Bright Lights, Big City
by EverythingIDo
Summary: Julie and Tim run into each other when they both end up in NYC after college. Away from Dillon, away from their reputations, everything is different.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first fic, so take it easy on me with the reviews! Obviously, these characters don't belong to me, though I wish Timmy did!!

A little background if you're interesting, the story takes place after Tim and Julie have both graduated from college; Julie attended Columbia and graduated in three years and Tim actually went to San Antonio State, graduated, and was drafted by the NY Giants.

Please, please review so I know whether or not to continue! Thanks for reading!

Chapter One

As the taxi ushered through the busy streets of Manhattan, Julie tried to concentrate on her task for the evening ahead. As one of the newest members of the writing staff at _Cosmopolitan_, she had been given what she felt was the unlucky assignment of attending a charity gala being thrown by the New York Giants to raise funds for the Ronald McDonald House. Her task: find the sexiest new members of the team for a future article. Sometimes she loathed her job, and right now was one of those times. Though some of her coworkers were jealous of her assignment, and not afraid to admit it, Julie was dreading it. After coming of age in Dillon, Texas where football was king and everything else fell by the wayside, she had had enough of arrogant athletes during her teenage years to last her a lifetime.

After graduating from Dillon High, she made a firm decision to get out of Texas by way of Columbia University. She wanted museums, she wanted coffee shops, she wanted _culture_; and New York City seemed like just the place to provide it. College was expensive enough without the added high price of city living, so she finished in three years instead of the traditional four with a degree in journalism. Applications were sent across the city to every major magazine, but the only one willing to take a chance on a recently-graduated, Texas transplant was _Cosmopolitan_; something about cowboys and their sex appeal that she must have experienced and the possible stories she could bring to the magazine. Yeah, right. It wasn't her dream job, that was for sure, but it was a stepping stone to bigger and better things.

After paying the driver who had driven her from her studio apartment in Brooklyn to the fancy Upper East Side hotel where the gala was being held, she gathered her clutch, took a deep breath, exited the taxi, and made her way into the building. Clearing security, she entered the ballroom and made her way to where other members of the media had set up shop. Taking a seat at the large table next to two other women, she found herself immediately drawn to their conversation. Apparently, the team had recently acquired a new fullback in last month's draft who was "absolutely breathtaking" according to the redhead closest to her.

Casually shifting her eyes to where the other two pairs had settled, a sharp intake of breath followed her realization of who they were talking about.

Mouth agape, she found herself staring at none other than Tim Riggins.

"Isn't he divine?" the brunette asked, leaning over into Julie's earshot. She could only nod in agreement, too shocked to form real words. "Uh huh," she finally managed to squeak out in agreement.

If it was possible, Tim had become even more beautiful than he was in Dillon; four years of life had treated him well. Of course, in high school she would never admit his good looks; she preferred to allow her best friend back then, Lois, to do all of the drooling. Vague memories of her father mentioning his acquisition by the Giants in last month's draft flooded her thoughts.

"He's mine," the redhead announced, quickly jumping from the table and rushing over to where Tim was standing with a few other members of the team. Julie rolled her eyes. Probably, she surmised, that girl was a rally girl in her high school days.

Cringing at the girls obvious sluttiness, she gratefully accepted the flute of champagne being offered by the passing waiter. Courage would be needed tonight and what do you know, it was being passed around her in liquid form.

Returning her attention to where the redhead was shamelessly trying to draw Tim away from his teammates, she smirked at the girl's lack of success. It appeared, however, that she was going to make one last ditch effort before returning in defeat. As she pointed in the direction of where Julie and the brunette, now completely engrossed by something on her iPhone, were sitting, Tim casually shifted his gaze to follow her finger. His lips fell into a smirk when his eyes settled on Julie.

After signaling to his teammates and obnoxious admirer that he would return shortly, he took long, quick strides in her direction with the redhead trailing behind like a puppy.

"Julie Taylor?" he asked, taking the seat previously occupied by the redhead; she stood behind him and pouted, arms folded across her chest before finally accepting defeat and bouncing off to find a slightly less attractive player to take home.

Julie nodded. "Hey Tim," she smiled awkwardly. Inwardly she chided herself for focusing on school instead of boys during college, thus limiting her experience with men to the awkwardness that was Matt Saracen in high school.

"You look nice," he commented.

"You too," she responded with a shy smile. And look good, he did. Maybe, she concluded, better than he had in the past. His hair, always longer than the average male's, was brushed out of his face for once, allowing her to admire the smile lines that had pleasantly formed around his eyes. The formal wear outfitting his body wasn't a look she was accustomed to on her father's former fullback, but it was nothing to complain about. In fact, it was something she could get used to.

"So, what brings you here?" he broke her thoughts.

"Work," she said plainly. His brows furrowed in confusion.

"I work for a magazine," she explained, careful to avoid which one. She knew that the admittance of which publication she worked for would ultimately result in crude jokes.

"Oh, like _Sports Illustrated_ or somethin'?" he asked with excitement.

She cringed. "Not quite. Um, _Cosmopolitan_," she mumbled the last word, hoping he wouldn't care too much to clarify.

Leaning back in his chair, he laughed loudly at her confession. Apparently, the mumbling didn't work. "The chick magazine?" he asked once he had calmed himself.

She nodded, shame clear on her face. "I'm, uh, supposed to be scouting the team for feature articles," she explained.

"Feature articles, huh?" he rubbed his chin in thought. "Like, preferred sex positions?" he continued with a twinkle in his eye. _Same Tim Riggins,_ she thought.

"Shut up, Tim," she swatted him gently in the arm. He feigned being hurt while she continued. "It's just a job until I can find a better one at somewhere with more meaning," she explained.

"Oh, like _InStyle_?" he joked.

She rolled her eyes then frowned.

"Riggins, we need you over here," a voice announced from across the room.

"Well, duty calls," he stood. "Maybe I'll catch ya later?" he asked before striding away.

--

Later that evening, Julie found herself accompanied only by the slight champagne buzz that had taken residence inside of her as the other two that had been with her at the table before found other, much less attractive than Tim, players to canoodle with for the evening. As the dance floor slowly filled with couples, she chose to check the e-mails that had accumulated on her Blackberry since she had arrived.

"Fancy," a familiar voice drawled from behind her. Tim, of course.

"This old thing?" she joked. He chuckled and, once again, took the seat next to her.

"I can't stand these things," he commented a few minutes later.

She nodded. "Yeah, they don't really seem like your scene," she responded while placing her phone back into her clutch that was barely big enough to hold it.

"You wanna dance?" He surprised her by holding out his hand as he stood.

She raised her eyebrows. "Uh, sure," her left hand folded into his right before allowing herself to be pulled up out of her seat.

Once on the dance floor, the pair fell into a comfortable rhythm as the soft music floated around them. "When did you learn to dance like this?" Julie asked a few minutes into a waltz.

"Just something I picked up," he answered vaguely, his voice smooth. She nodded, accepting the answer.

"Did I tell you how good you look tonight?" He broke the silence a few minutes later.

She giggled. "I think you mentioned it," her cheeks tinted to a shade that probably matched the bright red cocktail dress she was sporting.

"Well, you do," his answer was smug. Then, he winked at her and Julie's knees felt began to feel like jello. Tim Riggins was not supposed to have this kind of effect on her; not when he was her father's fullback, not when he was all grown up, not ever.

"You use that line on all the girls?" she joked once she had regained the use of her voice.

He shook his head no.

She grinned. "Thanks," she finally said. Okay, maybe he could have that effect on her a little bit, but only a little bit.

"Anytime, Taylor," was his simple response.

They continued dancing until they began to notice the emptying of the dance floor. "It must be getting late," Julie commented.

"Almost two," he answered simply. Her eyes widened; she hadn't noticed the hands of the large clock on the other side of the room were traveling to a later hour.

"I'm totally going to fall asleep tomorrow morning in my meeting," she said with a chuckle.

He shrugged. "You need to head out?"

"Probably," her voice was evidence of her reluctance to leave because, much to her amazement, she was having a good time with Tim.

"Come on then," Tim removed his arm from her waist, but allowed his hand to remain in hers as he led her back to the table where her things were sitting. Grabbing her clutch, she took her phone out to put a call into car services after remembering that she had been given their number to use for the evening. However, when at automated voice announced that it would be anywhere between one and two hours before her car arrived, she moved on to Plan B.

"Guess I'll have to take a cab," she said after disconnecting the hall.

Her unease about having to climb in a dirty, yellow car at this time must have been written on her face judging by Tim's offer to see her home. "Are you sure?" she really didn't want to impose on his evening.

"I need to be heading out anyway," he assured her.

"Okay." She followed him out of the ballroom, through the lobby, and onto the quiet streets. Finally, after waiting for a good ten minutes, a taxi pulled up and they climbed in after flagging it down. Julie gave the driver her address and they pulled back onto the streets.

They rode in relative silence, Tim pointing out every now and then the places he had been to as they passed. The late hour provided for a lighter amount of traffic so a trip that usually would take twenty or so minutes only took ten. "You need me to walk you up?" Tim asked when they stopped in front of her building.

"Nah, I'll be fine," she said while digging through her clutch for some cash to pay the driver.

He reached over and stopped her digging hand, "I got it."

"Thanks," she looked up with a smile. "It was really good seeing you, Tim."

"You too, Taylor," he grinned back. Julie had to forcibly remove her gaze from his lips and the dimples that formed in his cheeks. Then, in a move that completely threw her off, he leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"Well, uh, I better," she gestured to her waiting building before quickly opening the door and hopping out.

"Night, Taylor," he yelled through the window when she turned around to wave. Unable to think of a worthwhile answer, she simply flipped her hand before turning and climbing the stairs into her building.

Unbeknown to her, Tim was grinning madly in the taxi following their encounter, every thought in his mind thinking of ways he could run into her again.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Julie was relieved to make it to her meeting at work not only on time, but with a few extra minutes to spare. After grabbing a steaming cup of coffee in the break room, she made her way into the conference room where her coworkers were starting to assemble around the large table.

"Hey Jules," Daphne, her favorite coworker said when she sat down next to her.

Raising her coffee cup to greet her friend, Julie smiled before she answered, "Hey."

"Long night?" Daphne's eyebrows wiggled suggestively.

"Yeah, right," Julie chuckled. "No, I just ran into a friend at that thing I had to go to and lost track of time," she explained.

"Alright, ladies, let's get down to business," Kate, the editor in chief, announced, cutting the brief conversation short and quieting the room from her post at the head of the table. "As you all know by now, the first Friday of every month is reserved to start planning next month's issue. Emily, what do you have for me?" she asked, turning to the blond closest to her. The girl began rattling off something about hair products and Julie zoned out.

"Miss Taylor, do you have your notes from last night?" Kate asked, shaking Julie from her thoughts.

Shifting her posture to a more upright position, Julie began shuffling the papers in front of her. "I, uh, no I haven't had a chance to jot them down yet, but come back to me," she answered before turning to her notepad and jotting down the players she had been in contact with the night before. With a sneaky smile, she wrote Tim's name at the top of the list, followed by a few others that she had briefly chatted with that she thought might be acceptable candidates for the article. She tried to convince herself that Tim really was the best eye candy on the team and that that was the only reason she included him.

Eventually, the discussion rounded the table and came back to Julie and she passed the sheet filled with her notes back to Kate. "Hm," Kate said as she pondered the scribbled words. "Sasha," she beckoned her assistant, "bring up the pictures of the top five and bring them back to me ASAP." The young girl nodded and quickly exited the room. Returning a few minutes later, copies in hand, she placed them in front of Kate to analyze.

"Let's see," Kate said as she started to flip through them, making comments about each one as she went. "Okay, let's go with this Tim Riggins, and these other two," she said before passing the pictures down the table to Julie.

Julie nodded in agreement before stuffing the printed pictures into her folder, arranging it so that Tim was on top. Chiding herself, she took them out and shuffled them around, putting a different player on the top of the pile. The meeting continued for thirty more minutes before Kate dismissed them to begin researching their individual assignments.

When Julie got back to her desk, she barely had time to breath before Daphne appeared in front of her. "You are so lucky," she commented once she sat down.

"Why's that?" Julie asked.

"Because," Daphne gave an exasperated sigh, "you get to interview these fine, eligible men and get paid to do it." She pointed to the stack of photos that Julie had arranged on the top of her desk.

Julie laughed at this; if Daphne only knew what most of these athletic types were like. "Oh come on, don't tell me you aren't excited at least a little bit," Daphne said in response to Julie's laughter.

"I'm not in the least bit excited about this," Julie tried to make her voice sound convincing, for both her sake and Daphne's. In truth, she was kind of excited about getting to see Tim again, if only to spend time around a familiar face.

"Not even for that one you put on top of the stack then shuffled to the bottom?" Julie blushed; Daphne had witnessed that?

She blinked, trying to form a response that didn't sound like a five year old's with little luck. "Nope," was the best she could come up with.

"I guess that means it's okay if I come to the photo shoot and interview then? I do love football players," Daphne was only kind of joking, but Julie didn't know that.

"Of course not," she said, suddenly defensive and slightly blushing.

"See," Daphne pointed out," you _are_ interested."

"Am not," she said in another elementary response. "Shoo, I have work to do," she finally said in an attempt to rid her desk area of Daphne and her pressuring comments.

"Fine, fine," Daphne stood while rolling her eyes before making her way back to her desk area at the other side of the large room.

An hour later, the only work Julie had managed to get done was to schedule a date and time for the photo shoot and interviews. She had yet to get in contact with any of the player's agents because, honestly, she hated dealing with those men. Finally, though, she ran out of other menial tasks to do so she decided to break out the sheet of paper listing the agent's names and numbers that Sasha had brought to her shortly after the group meeting. Scanning the sheet, she was relieved to see that Tim's manager was Jason Street.

Julie had seen Jason a few times after moving to the city, most recently when her parents were in town in May for her graduation from Columbia. Eric had insisted on meeting up with one of his favorite former players, so one night while the Taylor's were in town, Jason met with them for dinner. At the time, she had already been offered her job at _Cosmopolitan_, so luckily the phone call she was fixing to make would be without the formal introductions and crude jokes that typically followed the announcement of the publications she was calling for.

"Jason Street," he answered on the third ring, the background noise indicating he was in a busy location. A quick glance at the clock told Julie it was around lunchtime which meant she was probably interrupting his meal.

"Jason, hey it's Julie Taylor. I'm not interrupting your lunch or anything am I?"

"No, no I'm just grabbing a quick bite with Timmy. What can I do for ya?" Perfect; two birds with one stone.

"Actually, I was calling about Tim. You see, my editor is insisting that we do a feature on him next month, but I don't really have a way to get in touch with him and technically we're supposed to go through agents first anyway," she explained, only rambling a little bit towards the end.

"Here, why don't you just ask him yourself?" Jason offered.

"Um, okay," Julie wasn't expecting this; maybe calling Jason first had been a mistake. She heard the phone being handed over while Jason informed Tim of who was calling.

"What's up Taylor?"

"Oh, nothing, just, uh, working," she stammered. _Who am I? Matt Saracen?  
_  
"That's nice," he commented as if he wasn't sitting in the middle of a crowded restaurant with Jason.

"Yeah," she was speaking like a child again. "Oh, right, I actually do have a reason for my call." Finally she was able to gather her thoughts.

"Alright," he drawled, "shoot."

"Well, the thing is...my, uh, editor picked you for this feature in next month's issue," she explained.

"What kind of feature?" He sounded intrigued.

"Just a standard interview and photo shoot thing. Apparently, you and a few of your teammates were dubbed 'eye candy' by my editor," she explained.

"And what about you?"

"What, uh, what about me?"

"You think I'm eye candy?" Ugh, he was enjoying this, wasn't he?

"I guess so?" she mumbled. Of course she thought he was eye candy; he was Tim Riggins. Everyone thought he was eye candy.

He chuckled. "I'm just playin' with you, Jules. I'll do it," he paused, "on one condition."

"Sure, anything," she answered without thinking. _Please, please be something normal._

"Have dinner with me tonight."

Author's note: How about a little morning update for ya'll? Sorry that this one is a little shorter than the last, I guess it's more of a filler than anything. Thanks for the reviews and keep them coming!!!! Also, anything specific you guys want to happen as the story progresses?


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Daph, I need your help," Julie sighed as she collapsed into the chair opposite her friend's desk.

"Sure," Daphne shifted her attention from her desktop computer to Julie, "what's up?"

"I may or may not have agreed to have dinner with Tim Riggins to convince him to do the feature." As she spoke, her voice became more and more unsure. What had she gotten herself into?

Daphne's furrowed her eyebrows. "Isn't that, I don't know, bribing?"

"Not when you know the person," Julie explained in defense.

"Wait," Daphne held up her hand in protest, "you _know_ Tim Riggins? Julie, why did you keep this valuable piece of information from me?"

Julie cringed, realizing that to people who hadn't grown up with the likes of Smash Williams, JD McCoy, and Tim Riggins in and out of their house on a daily basis, successful athletes were kind of a big deal. It had completely slipped her mind that guys like Tim were media magnets; she just chose to ignore all of the hoopla. To her, a good quarterback or receiver was on the same level as her hair stylist. It was simply a job, something they loved and could make money doing.

"Because, he played for my dad back home and it's not like we're technically _friends_ by definition of the word. I mean, I'm pretty sure the most meaningful conversation we've had other than when I ran into him at the gala last night was when I was drunk and he saved me from make a huge mistake," Julie rationalized.

Daphne didn't catch on. "He _lived _with you? In your home?"

"It was only for a week," Julie really didn't see what the big deal was with this entire situation.

"Well, then the important question is who initiated the meal," Daphne said, getting back to the situation at hand.

"He did. It was like a condition to make him agree to do the article or something."

"Then it's totally a date." Julie reddened.

"Why do you say that? Maybe he just, I don't know, wanted to see a familiar face again."

"Jules," Daphne stressed her name before continuing, "guys like that don't ask out girls just because they want to see a familiar face. Look at him, all he has to do is smile and remind any girl in Manhattan that he's the new fullback for the Giants and he has them swooning. He chose you."

"Tim isn't like that," Julie tried to convince herself. Then, she remembered the rally girls and cheerleaders at his beck and call back in high school. Maybe he was.

Daphne must have noticed the realization settle onto Julie's face. "If I were you I'd consider myself flattered," she said with a shrug.

"He thinks I'm a rally girl," Julie mumbled to herself. "I mean, look at me, I'm blond, I work at freaking _Cosmopolitan_ for crying out loud."

"Rally girl?" Daphne wasn't familiar with the term.

Julie ignored her question. "I, uh, I need to take the rest of the day off and prepare myself mentally for this," she said while standing from the chair and turning away.

"If that's you taking a pass on him, I'm always available," she heard Daphne shout from her desk.

Julie finally felt a little tension leave her shoulders. "Nice try, Daph," she giggled without turning around.

After logging off of her computer, she grabbed her purse from beneath her desk and made a swift exit from the _Cosmopolitan_ offices and onto the busy streets of Manhattan in less than ten minutes. Mentally still trying to convince herself that the possibility that this was completely a business dinner and not a date, she flagged a cab and directed them to her apartment. Once inside, she stretched out on the couch, phone in hand.

Desperately wanting to call someone who wouldn't swoon over the fact that she was having dinner with _the Tim Riggins_, she flipped through her contacts. Mom, no; Lois, definitely not; Tyra, probably not the best option considering her past with him. All of her city friends were definitely a no, leaving her with no other options. Sighing loudly, she stood and padded to the bathroom. Maybe a bath would help settle her nerves.

By five 'till seven, Julie had somewhat calmed her fluttery stomach that had felt odd since she had agreed to dinner. With Tim set to arrive at her apartment in less than five minutes, though, her clothing was a different story. In fact, it looked like closet had caught a vicious case of the stomach flu and erupted onto her bed. She finally settled on a pair of dark skinny jeans, a flowy white tank top with navy embroidery around the neckline, and a pair of chunky wedges.

She heard a knock at her door just as she was tucking the buckle on her left shoe through the clasp. Jumping up from her still littered with clothes bed, she jogged through her apartment to greet Tim, a silent prayer being sent to the Heavens that she had somehow found an apartment with rent control _and_ a doorman.

"Hi," she said breathlessly when she whipped open the door. She was stunned to see Tim standing there, a bouquet of daisies in his hand.

He grinned widely at her. "Hi yourself," he finally said. "Oh, these are for you," he held the flowers out to her.

"Thanks, I'll just put them in water," she blushed before rushing into the kitchen to deposit them in a vase, grabbing her purse on the way back to the door.

"You ready?" he asked when she arrived back in front of him. She nodded, taking in the crisp white button down he had worn with jeans and a pair of boots, trying to figure out where they were headed for the evening based by what he was wearing. His outfit, however, wasn't traditional city-wear so she was unable to form any conclusions.

"So, where are we headed?" she asked as they exited her building. He had sweetly tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and was guiding her down the sidewalk.

"You'll see," he answered vaguely.

Turning to him, she narrowed her eyes as if daring him to give her more details. He didn't fall for it, only laughing lightly and continuing on. "Just trust me," he drawled.

"Fine," she finally said. "We are having dinner, though, right?" she joked.

"Right."

As the walk continued, silence settled over them. It was nice, Julie realized, to not have to constantly attempt to keep up a conversation. Most dates, if that was what this was, she went on were filled with awkward small talk about work and family life. With Tim, those things didn't seem to be necessary. He talked when he had something important to say and that was it.

"We're here," he announced a few blocks down. They had stopped in front of what looked like a vacant, run down restaurant that Julie had never noticed before.

She turned to Tim, a million questions written on her face, the most important one seeming to ask, 'Where the hell are we?'

"Come on, I promise it's really good." He released her hand from the crook of his elbow where it had grown comfortable before allowing his to travel to the small of her back, gently urging her forward through the door he was holding open. Julie tried to ignore the tingles his warm hand sent up her spine.

"Six and Erin brought me here a few weeks back on one of my first nights in the city. It's a completely hidden gem," he explained to her as they made their way down a mostly dark hallway, lit only by a few elegant floor lamps every few feet.

Finally, they arrived at an ornate door surrounded by stained glass windows. Tim shifted forward and pulled open the door, revealing an oasis of greenery settled in the middle of the city. Julie's eyes widened at the beauty before her; shrubs and flowers and flourishing trees covered every open space that wasn't occupied with tables and chairs.

"This is...wow," she finally stuttered after taking everything in while Tim was requesting a table from the hostess.

"Not what you would expect to find in the middle of the city, huh?" he asked once they were seated at a small table, hidden from the rest of the patrons.

"Not quite," she agreed. How had Tim been privileged enough to witness this place in two weeks after living in the city while she had been here for three and half a years?

When a waitress arrived, Tim ordered a bottle of red wine to be shared along with an appetizer he had had while dining here with Jason and Erin that he swore she would enjoy. "No beer?" she joked when the waitress had disappeared back into the jungle of greenery.

"Not tonight."

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Dancing and wine, Tim Riggins dare I say you've become worldly," she joked, trying to avoid the hidden implication in his previous statement that might indicate the purpose of dinner was anything but business.

"And after dinner, we'll retire to the library with brandy and cigars," he went along with her joke, smirking slightly.

She giggled. "Are you enjoying the city?"

"I am," he nodded. "Especially now that I'm able to sleep through the night, the sounds from the traffic and everything were a bit to handle at first."

"Where have you settled?"

"I found a little place on the Upper East Side," he answered casually.

"So, the other night when you made sure I got home you went completely out of your way?"

She noticed a slight blush rise in his cheeks. "I might have just wanted to spend a little more time with you," he admitted with a shy smile.

Now, it was her turn to blush. "And tonight?"

"Tonight," he paused as if contemplating his thoughts, "well, today, you provided me with a great excuse to ask you out without having to gather the courage within myself."

"Please, you could go on a date with anyone in Manhattan if you wanted." Julie was having a hard time believing that he really did want to spent time with her.

"Probably," he admitted. "But I chose you."

Julie grinned at his comment that cleared up most of her reservations about the evening. Maybe Daphne had been right after all.

–

After dinner, Tim walked Julie home the same way they had come. This time, Julie was much more relaxed on their stroll. Much too soon for her liking, they arrived outside her building.

"Thanks again for dinner," she said as she turned her body to face his as they stood in front of her door. She was trying in vain to avoid an awkward end-of-the-date scenario.

He chuckled. "You're welcome," he said, inching his face closer to hers.

"I still can't believe that Jason and Erin found that place in the middle of the..." His lips gently tumbling onto hers cut her off. Apparently, she mused, Tim didn't have patience for her awkward small talk.

Overcoming the initial shock, she melted into the kiss as one of his hands traveled up to cup her cheek, the other settling on her hip. "Wait," she drew away reluctantly. Before she let this carry any further, she had one last reservation to clear up.

There wasn't anger in his eyes, but definitely some annoyance. "I'm not like, one of those things you have to get out of your system am I?"

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion so she continued. "You know, like, you have to sleep with the coaches daughter to get over some sort of old high school dream or bet or something crazy like that," she rambled, her right hand waving through the air nervously.

He laughed, freaking _laughed_, at her fears. "No," he assured her bluntly before attacking her lips again, this time as gently as before.

She pulled away yet again, causing him to groan. "Are you sure?" she looked up into his eyes, pleading with him to reassure her.

"Yes," he said with a sigh. She didn't seem convinced so he continued. "Which is why, as much as I don't want to, I'm going to kiss you one last time, let you unlock the door, and tell you goodnight. I can't make any promises concerning later dates, though."

"Later dates?" she asked hopefully. Well, that clears that question up.

He nodded slowly. "Definitely later dates," he assured her before initiating the kiss to end the evening.

--

A/N: Another quick update, but I have to warn everyone it might be sometime next week before I get a chance to update again because I'm going out of town to visit family. But, you never know so keep checking :)

Also, to my knowledge there is no such restaurant existing in Manhattan like the one I described Tim taking Julie to. In fact, I'm not from NYC, I've only visited a few times, so just go ahead and give me a freebie for any huge mistakes I make regarding places and things, please!

Thanks again for reading! I'll do my best to update soon! Reviews = love!


	4. Chapter 4

The next morning, Julie woke up around ten, as per Saturday tradition, changed into her running gear and made her way to Central Park. There was something about the sprawling green space in the midst of skyscrapers combined with the rhythmic pounding of her feet on the pavement that allowed her to relax and clear her mind of the previous week's stresses.

As she wound through the park, sweat starting to bead on her forehead, her thoughts almost immediately traveled, as they had tended to do since he had left her doorway the night before, to Tim. As if fate thought it would be funny to play a cruel joke on her, she glanced ahead the object of her thoughts running in her direction. Why did she have to run into him, out of all people, when she looked her absolute worst? She was pretty confident that her hair was matted to her forehead. One would think that in a city of over eight million, these little run-ins would be few and far between.

Assuming that the best way to avoid him was to turn and continue her run from the way she had come, she quickly turned around, hoping and praying that he was one of those intense runners who didn't notice those around him. She thought wrong.

"Jules?" She heard him say as he fell into pace next to her. Julie figured he must have increased his speed slightly to catch up to her.

"Hi Tim," she responded, trying not to sound embarrassed by the state he had found her in.

"You do this often?" He gestured around the park.

She nodded. "Every Saturday morning," was her response.

"That's nice. I just discovered how nice it was is here, well, today," he admitted. "How much longer do you have?"

"About a mile," she guessed.

He nodded, accepting her answer. "Want a running buddy?"

Thinking to herself that there was absolutely no way she would be able to keep up with his pace, he was after all a professional athlete and probably in remarkably better shape that she was, she had every intention of telling him no before her mouth betrayed her. "Sounds great," she heard herself say.

They fell into a comfortable rhythm, Julie surprising herself with how she was able to keep up with Tim. When they came to the west edge of the park, Julie turned to him. "Well, this is me," she said with a shrug after slowing her pace to a casual walk. Tim followed her actions.

"Do you, uh, have plans tonight?" he asked before she was able to come up with anything clever to say so that she could escape to her shower and rid herself of the sweat that accumulated during her run, along with the embarrassment of the state Tim had witnessed her in.

"Uh, I actually promised my friend Daphne that I would go this concert with her in Soho, some band she recently discovered or something. I think she has a think for the drummer." Julie was really dreading it, she was pretty sure the concert would be as painful as the early Crucifictorious concerts had been.

"You don't sound too excited about it," Tim responding, catching the reluctance in her voice.

"I'm not," she answered bluntly.

"Would it be better if we double teamed her?"

Julie grinned at his question. It seemed that he really did want to spend more time with her, even if it meant having to endure torture in the form of music.

"No, I don't want to force you to sit through that," she shook her head back and forth as she spoke.

He shrugged. "I really don't mind, and you never know, it might be fun."

"Fun?"

"Okay maybe not fun," he admitted, "but we can _make_ fun of it together"

Julie pondered it for a second, finally giving in. If he wanted to inflict the torture that was sure to ensue tonight, she wasn't going to stop him. "Well, if you insist," she said with a grin before delving into details.

–

Julie decided to keep Daphne in the dark as to who her date for the evening was, knowing that the priceless look on her face would be worth it, regardless of how many questions would follow. She was right. Daphne practically had to pick her jaw up off the floor and reattach it to her face when Julie had walked in with Tim, his hand resting comfortably on the small of her back.

With Tim at the bar ordering a rounds of drinks, Daphne obviously spotted her opportunity to question Julie and ran with it. "Oh my God, Jules, how did you get him here?" she asked, leaning across the table so she wouldn't have to yell.

"He wanted to come," Julie shrugged innocently. This was going to be too fun.

Daphne furrowed her eyebrows, not believing a second of it. "You slept with him," she said a few seconds later.

"No," Julie defended herself, "of course I didn't sleep with him."

"Well, then you kissed him at least, right?" Daphne demanded.

"A lady doesn't kiss and tell," Julie said in her best princess voice, a slight blush forming on her cheeks.

Daphne made a show of taking in a deep breath and fanning herself. "What was it like?"

"I'm not going into this with you," Julie defended herself.

"But you will," Satisfaction oozed from Daphne's voice. Julie rolled her eyes. It wasn't entirely out of the realm of the possibility that she might go into details about the kiss at a later date, but not with Tim less than twenty feet away.

"Ladies," Tim returned to the table, "here are your drinks." In front of Julie, he placed the beer she had requested. She was thankful to see Tim again in a place that was more his element, not that she was complaining about the sophisticated, worldly Tim she had seen the previous night, but there was something about Tim and being in a bar that seemed to fit.

"Thanks," Julie turned to him and smiled.

He met her gaze. "No problem," his voice carried his Texas twang more heavily than normal as he casually settled his arm around the back of the booth, his fingers lightly grazing her shoulder every now and then.

"So," he turned to Daphne, "who's the band?"

"Well, they don't technically have a name yet, they just play in bars sometimes. I am like in love with the drummer," she giggled, obviously enjoying having Tim's attention.

"In love...wow," Tim nodded. To Julie, the sarcasm was clear in his voice, but Daphne didn't catch on.

"Completely. We've only been on a couple of dates, but I'm positive he feels the same way," she sounded so hopeful it was almost painful.

"That's nice," Tim said, clearly attempting to hide a grin from spreading across his face. When he turned to face Julie, though, she had the same expression on her face. Instantly, they erupted into a fit of laughter that caused them to fall all over one another. Their bubbly laughter only stopped when breathing was necessary.

"What's so funny?" Daphne asked innocently.

Julie straightened herself and bit her lip to stop her laughter. "Nothing, just uh, an old inside joke thing," she turned to Tim to corroborate the story only to be launched into laughter once again.

"I have to go to the ladies room" Daphne announced with annoyance.

"Uh, okay," Julie said innocently. "Oops," she said once her friend was out of earshot.

"That was painful, Jules," he said with wide eyes, downing the rest of his beer in one long drag.

"I warned you," Julie pointed out.

He stood. "I know you did. Want another drink?"

"Might as well just bring a whole pitcher," she sighed. If they were going to make it through tonight with the awful background music and Daphne's declarations of love, they were going to need it.

On second thought, "Or shots! Tequila please!" Julie shouted across the bar, hoping Tim would hear her. He did, nodding in agreement.

–

"You know what they say about tequila," Julie slurred as Tim led her through the doorway of the bar. Finally, the concert had ended and they were free to go without offending anyone. To make it through the thirteen songs the band had insisted on playing, Julie and Tim had gone shot for shot through a bottle of tequila, amounting to at least five shots a piece, though Julie had lost count after four. You see, liquor and Julie had never formed the solid relationship that liquor and Tim had. That, and had a significantly higher amount of body mass to process the alcohol than she did, resulting in a very drunk Julie and a much less drunk Tim.

"What's that?" He played along; of course he knew what they said about tequila.

"Tequila makes her fall clothes off," she mixed up her words. "I mean, uh, clothes fall off," she giggled, realizing her mistake.

"Is that right?" he chuckled. She really was an adorable drunk.

She nodded, followed by a hiccup. "Uh huh," she finally said.

Suddenly, Julie stopped on the sidewalk. The new heels she had bought earlier in the day were rubbing a hell of a blister on her toes and, at the time, it seemed like a great idea to take them off. "My feet hurt so so so bad," she mumbled while using his arm for balance.

"Jules, leave your shoes on," he tried to stop her but she wasn't complying.

"How about we grab a taxi?" He suggested, realizing that she wasn't in any condition to walk the entire way home, even with his help.

"No, no taxi. I want to walk and feel the breeeeeze on my face. Such a pretty night, right Tim?" Every few words were slurred as she looked up at him with an endearing smile on her face.

"Jules," he pleaded, "let's just get you home, okay?"

"But I don't want to go home," she was adamant about that fact. So, she plopped down on the nearest sidewalk bench, immediately slumping to the side.

Tim sighed loudly. "You leave me no choice," he grumbled before picking her up and tossing her over his shoulder fireman style.

"Tiiiiiim," she shrieked loudly, her main concern over whether or not she was flashing New York City. He ignored her pleas though, depositing her in the first cab he could flag down and climbing in behind her.

When they arrived at her building, she was teetering between being awake and passing out. "Come on, Jules," Tim said in a surprisingly gentle tone, pulling her into his arms. This time, he carried her with one arm under her knees and the other bracing her shoulders, her arms draped casually across his neck. He nodded to the doorman as he passed before finally making it upstairs and into her apartment using the key he had found in her purse.

He settled her onto the couch once he made it through the door before making his way into the kitchen to find her some water and aspirin that she would surely want in the morning.

"You know what this reminds me of?" she mumbled from her spot on the sofa, drifting into lucidity for a few minutes. He hadn't realized she was still awake.

"What's that, Jules?" he asked before padding back into the living room and sitting on the floor next to where he had deposited her.

"That night when I was too," hiccup, "drunk to not make a huge mistake and you took me home and got in trouble because I, well, I tried to kiss you and my _dad_ walked in. My_ dad_, your _coach_, it was terrible wasn't it?" She rambled.

"It was no problem," he assured her, assuming that her ramblings were a form of saying thank you.

"No, it was. My dad made you leave because he thought you were trying to take," hiccup, "advantaaage of me and you weren't. I'm sorry and thank you," she said after a few minutes of gathering her thoughts, this statement only a few less slurs more coherent than the first. Luckily, Tim was able to get the general idea of the statement.

"You're welcome. Now get some rest," he said, smoothing her hair away from her face.

She reached up and grabbed his wrist, stopping his movements. "Stay with me," she said as more of a plea than a question.

"Alright," he nodded, a quick answer without thinking. "You want me to take you to your bed or do you think you can handle it?"

"I can handle--" she said, stopping when she sat up and realized that her apartment was still spinning. Her hands latched onto his shoulders for support.

"No you can't," he chuckled, gently grabbing her arm and helping her up and across the living space to the door that he assumed was her room.

"It looks like your closet threw up in here," he commented when he opened the door. Though she had cleaned up earlier in the morning, while getting ready for the concert it had exploded again.

"I couldn't decide what to wear," she admitted before tumbling onto her bed face down still wearing her shoes.

"I see that," he joked, his gaze traveling around the space before his attention turned back to her and sliding her shoes off. Grasping her waist, he slid her up closer to the head of the bed as opposed to where she had fallen at the foot. Once she was settled and covered in a blanket, he turned and headed for the door.

"No, in here," she said, her voice muffled from the pillows surrounding her.

His eyebrows rose in surprise. "I'll just be right out here on the couch," he assured her.

"Tim, please," she pleaded, her voice practically a whisper. Clearly, she was merely seconds away from succumbing to sleep.

"Okay," he finally answered before sitting on the edge of the bed, dropping his boots to the floor, and settling in next to her.

--

Surprise! I had this chapter written before I headed out of town and got a chance to log on and update...hope it's enjoyable. Up next: Waking up! I'll try to update some time this week.


	5. Chapter 5

Tim was disoriented. Having just woken up, in a room he couldn't quite place, confusion had set in. As he shifted his gaze around the room, realization hit when he remembered the comment he had made the night before about her closet erupting. He was in Julie's room, in her bed. In the distance, he could hear water running meaning she was in the shower.

Laughing to himself about her behavior the night before, she really was a completely adorable drunk, he lifted himself off the bed and padded out of the room before crossing the apartment to her tiny kitchen. If he remembered anything from his time with the Taylor's, it was that those people loved their coffee. Julie, he figured, would be in desperate need for some when she got out of the shower and her hangover set in.

After finding the necessary fixings for coffee, he went about getting it ready before moving on to the refrigerator in search of something to make for breakfast. Deep in thought, he didn't hear the shower shutting off on the other side of the apartment.

–

From her vantage point in the doorway, Julie was making a sincere effort to hide her presence so that she could enjoy the view of Tim wandering around her kitchen. After a refreshing shower, she had thrown on her most comfortable pair of athletic shorts and an oversized t-shirt before the smell of coffee had lured her to the kitchen. Surprisingly, the only hangover she had to speak of from her unfortunate experience with tequila the previous evening was a pounding head. She had had worse.

"Make yourself at home," she joked from the doorway.

Tim turned around in surprise. "Figured you might want some coffee," he drawled. After gesturing to the now-full pot of coffee, he found the mugs with Julie's direction and poured them both a steaming cup.

"Thanks," Julie said with a grin.

He nodded. "No problem," he assured her. In fact, he had kind of enjoyed finding his way around Julie's kitchen this morning. After all, his was still empty except for the paper cup and plates he had accumulated to make take out seem a little more enjoyable.

"So," Julie said after a large gulp, "thanks, for last night and everything. I didn't, uh, you know completely embarrass myself, did I?" She knew that no major faux pas had been made, but the details and bits of conversations were still hazy. Nervously biting her lip, she waiting for his answer.

"You were fine," he assured her. His gaze traveled to where her teeth had captured her lower lip. How could she manage to make an oversized shirt and shorts look so damn sexy?

"You promise?" Julie wasn't so sure.

He reached across the table and grabbed her hand that was settled next to her coffee mug, his thumb gently grazing her palm in a reassuring caress. "Promise."

"Okay," she accepted his answer with a nod.

"How ya feelin'?" Tim asked a few minutes later.

"Surprisingly not as bad as I though I would when I first woke up. The shower and the coffee have helped a lot."

"You know, my coffee is magic," Tim joked, winking.

She giggled. "Is that right?"

"It is," he nodded.

"Well, technically it's my coffee," Julie countered.

"But I made it," Tim argued, his voice full of humor.

Julie rolled her eyes; he was wiggling his eyebrows from behind his coffee mug in what she was pretty sure was a playful way, but she couldn't be completely sure. Something in his eyes warned her that he might be hinting at other magic traits he had as well.

Then, she suddenly felt his foot slide up against hers under the table. Was he playing footsie with her? Were they twelve? Ignoring it, she carried on with conversation.

"So, uh, do you have plans today?" His foot sliding up her calf caused her to fumble her words.

He nodded, his lips twitching into a smirk when he heard her reaction to him. "I have to go out to the team practice facilities to make sure I have everything I need for practice that starts tomorrow. You can come, if you want."

"Uh, sure." It wasn't like she had any other plans, except for maybe finally giving in and calling Tyra to spill on the whole Tim situation and maybe get some insight. He had now settled his foot back on the floor, but was sliding it against hers every now and then. She was sure he was just doing it to torture her.

Deciding that she needed more coffee, she quickly jumped out of her chair and made her way across the kitchen. Turning around after filling her cup, she was surprised to find Tim only inches away from her. She jumped back in surprise, bumping her back against the kitchen counter.

"Hi," he drawled. Damn him and that drawl that made her knees weak. She blamed it on the complete lack of hearing Southern twangs in the past three years, minus the phone calls to home.

"Hey," she finally whispered. As much as she wanted to dart around him and settle at the table again, his hazel eyes were practically begging her to stay put.

He inched closer, taking the newly full coffee cup from Julie's hands and placing it on the counter before settling his hands on either side of her. Tim's eyes were now fully fixated on her lips and she knew what was coming next.

When his lips crashed down on hers, Julie lost all sense of thought. Gently, his tongue prodded at her lips and she willingly opened them to him, her hands snaking around his waist, pulling him closer to her. Tim tasted like coffee and cinnamon, she realized. Softly moaning against his lips, Julie felt his hands attach to her waist and effortlessly lift her up onto the counter, depositing her there before pulling away from the kiss.

Forehead to forehead, their eyes locked, both coming to the realization that this was anything but the slow, calm kiss they had shared just two nights prior. This was something more, something they both needed and desperately wanted. Something, though neither Tim or Julie was sure what, had changed. Impatient with the pause, Julie locked her hands and the nape of his neck and pulled his lips back to hers, this time harder than before.

Tim groaned low in his throat; God, she felt so good against him, perfect even. He pulled his lips away from hers and traveled down her jaw, to her sweet ear which he had been dying to taste since the night they had run into each other at the gala. "Jules," he purred before allowing his tongue to delve out onto the tender flesh.

She giggled at the ticklish feeling his tongue caused on her earlobe while her hands traveled away from his neck and down his muscled chest, coming to rest on his lower back. His lips were now making a trail to the sensitive spot behind her ear and down the left side of her neck, stopping at her shoulder to nip and bite softly.

A chirpy ringtone interrupted her thoughts of how good what Tim was doing felt. Julie knew it wasn't her phone, so it must be Tim's. Judging by the fact that his lips hadn't even made a mention of leaving her shoulder alone, she figured he must have been too caught up to hear it.

"Should you get that?" she asked breathlessly.

"No," he mumbled against her. A few seconds later, the ringing ended, only to start up again.

"Shit, it's my alarm." His head suddenly shot up, his arms detaching from her as he rushed across the room to check the time.

"I have to be at out at the facilities in an hour and a half," he explained, walking back across the kitchen to Julie who had hopped off the counter while he had darted across the room.

"Aren't they in Jersey?"

He nodded slowly. "They are," Tim answered with disappointment. No more play time.

"Alright," she said, "just let me change and then we can run by your place on the way out there."

"I'll call a car," he said to Julie as she made her way to her room. She stopped in her tracks.

"You have a car service?" She asked with raised eyebrows when she turned around.

"Sure," he answered like it was no big deal, "it's in my contract."

She rolled her eyes. "Jason?"

"Thinks of everything," he said with a wink.

--

A/N: I'm back! So, more updates are on the way. Thoughts on this one? REVIEW.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N: Thank you all so, so, so, so much for your sweet reviews. Really, without them, there isn't as much motivation to write...so keep 'em coming! I'm so glad that ya'll are enjoying the story! _

With Julie waiting in the town car downstairs, Tim took his few minutes of alone time while changing for the afternoon to put a call into Jason. Jason, he had learned throughout the years, was not only great at career advice, but personal advice as well. The man was full of wisdom it seemed...and right now, Tim needed some wisdom bestowed upon himself.

"Six, I need some advice," he said as soon as Jason answered the phone.

"Career or personal? I need to know if I should put on my agent hat or my friend hat," Jason joked.

"I'm serious, J," Tim pleaded, "It's about Jules."

"Friend hat it is. Continue."

"Well, we kissed--" Tim began before being cut off by Jason.

"That's great, Timmy. I'm happy for you."

"That's not all," he continued. "See, the thing is I'm worried that if my alarm hadn't, uh, stopped us, then you know..."

"You wouldn't have been able to stop?" Jason asked, having apparently read Tim's thoughts.

"I'm afraid so," Tim cringed while speaking.

Jason didn't answer right away, so Tim waited patiently for his answer. He knew that, if given time, Jason would spout of some good stuff.

"You really like her, huh?" It wasn't exactly the wisdom Tim was expecting.

"I think so, J, and I had this grand plan of taking things slow and letting things evolve comfortably; I don't want to just jump into things like I have in the past because that obviously never works."

"I honestly never thought I would hear those words out of your mouth, Timmy,"Jason said with a chuckle.

Tim rolled his eyes. He was quickly growing impatient. "Just tell me what I should do, Jay."

"Fine, you have need to let her be in control," Jason answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Let her set the pace, you need to make sure that she feels comfortable and knows you aren't just using her before you get too carried away. Didn't you say she was worried about just being another girl to you?" Jason asked, recalling the earlier conversation the pair had shared when Tim had recounted their first date.

Tim nodded, letting the advice seep in before glancing at the clock and realizing the conversation was taking too much time and he hadn't even gotten a chance to change yet.

"Yeah, she was. So, Julie, control, got in. Listen, I gotta go, Six. Thanks for the advice."

--

"This is, wow," Julie commented as Tim dragged her through the Giant's new practice facility. He was giving her a brief tour, while at the same time still acclimating himself to the place. She knew most facilities like this were the same—locker rooms, weight rooms, meeting rooms, offices, and a large indoor field.

"A step up from Dillon and San Antonio, huh?"

"Definitely," she nodded.

"Wanna see my locker?" Tim grinned. Julie could tell he was really proud of this achievement; he sounded like a little boy on the first day of pee-wee practice.

"Let's go." He took her by the hand and pulled her to down a small hallway that led to the massive locker room.

No more metal lockers without doors for Tim, these were large mahogany ones with the players names engraved across the top. Below where _"Tim Riggins 33"_ was etched, a pair of practice jerseys hung inside, along with new cleats and other workout gear.

"Isn't it great?"

She nodded. "It's amazing, Tim."

Still giddy with excitement, he spontaneously wrapped her in his arms and lifted her off the ground, twirling around the room. Julie squealed with excitement before he finally put her down, his arms still latched around her waist.

"You know," Tim said wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "it's pretty empty in here, maybe we could continue our earlier..._activities_."

"Tim," she swatted at his chest softly, "I will not help you _break in_ your new locker!"

He chuckled, pulling her closer. "I know, I was just joking with you, you aren't like that."

She narrowed her eyes. What had he just admitted? Was she bad this morning or something?

"Like what?" Julie asked.

"Like a rally girl or something," he answered like she should have known.

"Ah," she grinned. "I see." She was glad he had remembered her earlier concerns.

He nodded. "You, Julie Taylor, are anything _but_ a rally girl."

"Then what happened in my kitchen..." Julie trailed off, waiting for him to continue the sentence with what she hoped wouldn't be an answer to break her heart.

"Was excellent and will most definitely happen again," he paused, "at a later time."

Julie's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Tim widened his stance to make their eyes level and removed his arms from around her waist, settling his hands on her hips.

He continued, "Jules, the thing is I don't want to screw this up and I think I might really be starting to like you, I mean I _know_ that I'm really starting to like you. I just want to explore this relationship, whatever, that we're developing before we jump into the other stuff right away."

"Have you been talking to Jason again?"

"I may or may not have called him while I ran up to my apartment to change," he said with a chuckle.

"Okay," Julie answered with a nod.

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay. Slow it is," she said with a smile that stretched across her face. "But, no rally girls for you, either."

He nodded. "Of course, no rally girls. I think up here, though, they prefer to be called cheerleaders."

"Whatever," Julie giggled.

"It's only going to be you," he assured her before depositing a small kiss on her lips.

A/N: Sorry this is a short one, I guess it's more of a filler than anything to kind of clear things up between Julie and Tim. I feel like this is kind of the exact same conversation they had the night of their first date, but I wanted them to readdress those things after their kitchen kiss. I promise, the next chapter will be longer and more fun :)


	7. Chapter 7

"You know what I'm thinking?" Julie asked Tim.

It was Thursday night and the pair was cuddled together in front of Tim's television, an action movie playing in front of them. Instead of a couch, they were lying together on a pallet made of blankets—Julie had affectionately come refer to their evening's at Tim's as "camping in" due to the lack of furniture in his apartment.

"What were you thinking?" he asked, his fingers running absentmindedly through Julie's hair.

"Maybe you should get some furniture," she suggested.

"But then," he said, "I won't be able to cuddle with you on the floor."

"Tim, you don't even have a kitchen table or proper dishes. And wouldn't it be nice to have somewhere besides the floor to watch Sports Center after you get home from practice?" she argued casually. They had eaten dinner on paper plates tonight for the second time this week. It was a shame that his beautiful, Upper East Side brownstone was void of furniture.

"Jules, you know I hate shopping and I _have_ furniture," Tim countered, sounding a bit like a little boy whose mom was forcing him to eat vegetables.

"You have a bed and a TV."

"Well, what else do you need?"

"Tim," Julie said, pleading with her eyes for him to see reason.

Finally, he conceded. "I guess I do need some basics."

"You do," she agreed.

"Wanna go Saturday?"

"Wait, how did I get drawn into this?"

"Well," Tim paused, "you _are_ here a lot, I don't want to buy stuff you can't stand the sight of. Plus, if you go then it can be assured that I buy things that are...appropriate."

"Appropriate?"

"Yes, appropriate. Nice furniture, not Lay-Z-Boys and beer coolers. I mean, you saw the house Billy and I lived in in Dillon; I'm not exactly an interior designer or anything."

She giggled. "Well, neither am I."

"But you're a chick," he explained. "Shopping is like...in your genes."

"Well, I guess that is true," Julie admitted.

"So, Saturday?" Tim asked.

"Saturday," Julie confirmed. "You want anymore popcorn?" She stood from the floor and walked into the kitchen with the now empty bowl.

Tim shook his head no. "I'm good."

"Beer?" she called from the kitchen.

"I'm gonna need it to start preparing myself for Saturday morning."

–

"What about this one?" Julie asked as they wound through the third furniture store of the day. Already they had been shopping for a solid three hours and the only purchases Tim had made were an entertainment center, dishes and silverware, and a chair.

Tim scrunched up his nose. "Too dark," he said in reference to the sofa she was standing in front of.

"I think it comes in other colors," Julie said, exasperation evident in her voice. "Just try it out."

Sighing, Tim fell back onto the sofa; he was bored with this whole shopping bit and was about an hour away from giving Julie his credit card and telling her to choose something she knew he would like and head to the closest bar for a beer.

"This is nice," he said, allowing his head to fall back and closing his eyes.

"Here," Julie sat next to him and handed him a few swatches of fabric, "do you like any of these."

"That one," he said, pointing to a light beige swatch.

"Are you sure? Is that, like, the theme you want to go with? Light and airy?"

"Jules," he pleaded, "I don't really care as long as it's comfortable."

"Then I think you should go with the darker shade. It's more rugged-like."

"Rugged-like?" Tim asked with humor in his voice.

"Yeah, I mean don't you want your home to feel, I don't know, _homey _or something? More West Texas than Upper East Side?"

"I guess so," he hadn't really thought about it before to be honest. She did make a good point, he realized. Tim wanted his home to be somewhere he could escape to, somewhere he was comfortable with.

"Yeah," he nodded, this time an image of what he wanted his home to look like flooding his thoughts. "Definitely the darker shade," he confirmed.

"So, then you're settled on this one?" Julie asked just to make sure.

Again, he nodded; in his mind, he was trying to figure out how Julie had been able to envision what he wanted before he had.

He ran his hands through his hair. "Yes."

"So, sofa, check," Julie said, mentally checking off the things he still needed in her head. Really, he only needed a few more large items—a dresser and a kitchen table and chairs—and a lot of small items like lamps and end tables.

"I think we need to take a break," Tim said. His head had fallen back against the sofa he had closed his eyes again.

Julie sighed, she just wanted to finish shopping. It was making her tired and Tim kind of cranky; she could tell it definitely wasn't his cup of tea. In Tim's defense, he had warned her that he didn't enjoy the activity.

"Come here," he pleaded, eyes still closed, as he extended his arm across the back of the couch.

Giving in to his pleas for a break, Julie allowed herself to settle against him, her head in the crook of his shoulder as his arm curled around her.

"Maybe a break wouldn't be so bad," she said as she cuddled up against him.

"I told you," he whispered in her ear She giggled quietly, allowing herself to truly relax as all thoughts of necessary household items slipped from her mind.

"Excuse me, but you aren't allowed to _sit_ on the furniture for an extended period of time," a sales associate spat while hovering above them.

Julie instantly stood, followed by Tim. "Sorry, uh, who do I need to see about purchasing this sofa and having it delivered?" Tim asked after gathering his thoughts.

"That depends," the man said in a snobbish tone, "on where you are having it delivered."

Tim rattled off his 5th Avenue address, eliciting an eyebrow raise from the sale associated. Quickly, his tone changed. "I see, well let's head up to the office and get this taken care of."

–

"I need a drink," Tim exhaled as they exited the final store of the day.

He had successfully purchased everything that Julie deemed necessary to make a home livable, all to be delivered by the end of the week.

"Me too," Julie agreed. Her feet were aching, her head hurt, and her shoulders were completely tense.

"No tequila," Tim said immediately, only kind of joking.

"Deal," Julie said with a chuckle.

A few blocks down, they came upon a bar that Tim identified as 'his kind of place,' so they went in and settled at the bar, both ordering beers.

"Thanks for coming with me today Jules," Tim said after drinking half of his beer in one sip.

"You're welcome, though once you finally decided what you wanted you really didn't need me."

"I wouldn't have known what I wanted if you hadn't helped," he informed her.

"Really?" Julie hadn't noticed that she had made such an impact.

Tim nodded. "You're whole 'rugged-like' comment gave me inspiration."

"Well, I just know you would have hated the colors you were starting to settle on," she said, shaking her head as if to prove her point.

"I know," he admitted, "you realized what I wanted before I did."

She grinned. "I guess I did."

Their conversation quieted after that, both enjoying their cold drinks and the opportunity to sit and relax after a long day. Still early, the bar was quiet enough that they could both allow their thoughts to wander.

"So, I've been thinking," Julie said halfway through both of their second beers.

"Uh oh," Tim tensed, worried that it would lead to another shopping adventure.

"I promise no more shopping," she assured him as if reading his mind. "But I _was _thinking, maybe after you get all of your stuff delivered you could have Jay and Erin over for dinner or something, kind of like a housewarming thing. They could bring Noah, I'd help you cook if you wanted."

Tim pondered this. "I'd like that."

"So would I," Julie grinned.

A/N: So, thoughts? Ideas? Likes/dislikes? Let me know! Thanks again for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

_Note: Rating change from T to M (not for this chapter but, you know, just in case). Thanks again for all of the reviews! Enjoy...  
_

By the end of the following week, Tim's brownstone was transformed from a cold, empty home void of personal touches into an inviting one, full of furniture that practically begged you to sit, touch, and relax into it. Subtle echoes of Tim's easy-going personality were reflected in the things he had chosen: warm shades, simple accessories, and a bit of Texas flair here and there (for example, the deer head he insisted on hanging in the study). He realized that, for the first time in his life, he had things that belonged to him and only him, things that he could be proud of.

Julie enjoyed watching the rooms transform before her eyes. On Monday, she stopped by with Chinese take-out from the place she frequented in her neighborhood to find Tim unpacking the first round of furniture in his living room. Work or other engagements kept them apart until Thursday, when he begged her to stop by just to see how everything was progressing and she was shocked to find a fully-decorated kitchen and living room; the furniture for the master bedroom and guest rooms wasn't set to arrive until Friday morning.

Seeing how quickly things had come together, Tim went ahead and gave Jason a call to invite him and his family over Saturday night for dinner. He was eager to show off his new place, as well as make some memories with good friends. Jason had agreed, he and Erin had both had busy weeks at work and with Noah, so a night in the city with friends sounded like a great idea.

--

"Mmm, smells good," Julie yelled as she walked through the doorway.

She had warned Tim that it probably wasn't a good idea to leaves his door unlocked in New York City, but he had ignored her, only locking it at night or when he wasn't home. Small town habits die hard, Julie guessed.

"I brought wine," she said as she crossed into the kitchen, lifting the bag containing two bottles of red wine for Tim to see. It was only the second the time Julie had witnessed him working his way around the kitchen and his culinary capabilities still surprised her, not that she was complaining.

Tim turned from where he was standing at the stove stirring something. "I told you that you didn't have to bring anything," he said, abandoning the pasta sauce stirring to wrap her in a hug.

"But I wanted to," she mumbled into his chest. They hadn't seen each other since Thursday and it was nice to feel his arms wrapped around her again.

Reluctantly, he released Julie from his arms and turned back to the stove. "Jay and his crew will be here at seven," Tim informed her, stirring furiously at whatever was boiling in front of him.

Turning her attention from him to what he was cooking, Julie dipped her finger in the sauce and brought it to her lips to taste. Noticing Tim's gaze travel from his work to where her finger was settling in between her lips, she smirked.

"So, what do you need for me to do?" she asked him, brushing away his lingering gaze.

Tease, Tim thought with a smirk. She knew exactly what she was doing to him. "Uh, you wanna, um, mix together the salad?"

This taking it slow business was starting to wear on him.

"Sure," she grinned, pleased at his reaction, before padding over to the refrigerator to remove the ingredients she needed.

"I think we need some music," Julie commented halfway through cutting a carrot. Instead of waiting for an answer, she headed directly for the living room to where his stereo was set up. Settling on a soulful, jazzy station she returned to the kitchen.

When Julie returned, Tim's attention was immediately drawn from the sauce he was stirring on the stove to the sway of her hips that had begun to occur in perfect rhythm with the music that was flooding around them. Unable to control his actions, his feet carried him across the kitchen to where Julie was innocently preparing the salad. Innocent my ass, he thought to himself.

"_Jules_," he whispered in her ear from behind, his arms trailing around her waist while his hands settled on her hips. He began nuzzling her neck, glad that her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, while she continued to tear lettuce in an attempt to keep her cool.

Julie completely lost her concentration, however, when his lips finished their tour of her neck and up to the spot just below her ear that he knew was her weakness. Dropping the knife in her hand onto the counter, she leaned into his embrace, her head tilting to the side, offering him better access to her neck as her eyes closed

This time, it wasn't a phone alarm that interrupted their actions, but a fire alarm.

"You've got to be _kidding_ me," Julie whined to herself as Tim raced across the house to remove the batteries while she tried to salvage the now-burning pasta sauce on the stove.

"Any hope for it?" Tim asked when he returned.

Julie shook her head. "Not unless you like your sauce on the charred side."

Tim began rummaging through his take-out menus on the counter. "Chinese, Thai, or Italian?"

"Italian," Julie answered. "I can make it look homemade," she assured him with a wink.

"Italian it is." Pulling out his cell phone, Tim dialed the number for an Italian place a few blocks down.

"You know," he commented while waiting for them to answer, "I'm beginning to think that kitchens might be a bad place for us."

Julie laughed at this. "I think you might be right," she sighed.

–

When Jason and Erin arrived, Noah trailing behind, Julie had just finished transferring the pasta dishes from the boxes that they had arrived in to Tim's new serving dishes. Stashing the evidence in the garbage, she turned the music back on (Tim made her turn it off so that the salad could be completed on time for dinner) and followed the voices of Tim's guests that were flowing from the foyer.

"Julieeeee!" Noah cried when he saw her walk through the doorway; she had babysat for Jason and Erin a few times during college.

"Hey Noah," Julie said as she bent down to his level for a hug. "Does your daddy have you playing football yet?"

He shook his head. "He says I'm still not old enough." The last time she had seen him, the boy had begged her to talk his daddy into letting him sigh up.

"Well, next year?" Julie turned to Jason for confirmation. He nodded.

"I'm going to be the quarterback," Noah announced, ignoring Julie's question completely as most five year olds tended to do to adults.

Julie laughed at this. "Of course you are, silly."

"Come on, Noah, leave Miss Julie alone for a little while," Jason said from his standing position above them.

Julie stood. "Okay," Noah said with a slight pout.

"Wine?" Julie asked Erin. She nodded before following Julie into Tim's kitchen, leaving Tim, Noah, and Jason in the foyer.

"Uncle Timmy, you live here now?" Noah said with wide eyes, as if noticing his presence for the first time now that Julie had left the room. Tim was amazed by how well she handled Noah; probably, he concluded, it was from having to handle Gracie Belle.

Tim chuckled. "Yeah, buddy, I do. You know what that means?"

"What?" The kid was practically jumping up and down in excitement. Tim bent down and picked him up so that they could be at eye-level with one another.

"That you can come over and play whenever you want."

"Really?"Amazement filled Noah's voice.

"Really," Tim said with a nod; he had a soft spot for the kid. "You want a beer or somethin'?" Tim turned to Jason and asked.

"That'd be nice," Jason said with a nod.

"Come on, little man, I'll get you set up on the Wii so you don't have to listen to boring grown-up talk," Tim informed Noah as the trio traveled into the living room.

–

"This looks delicious," Erin commented as the adults sat down to dinner. Noah was in the other room, his mind focused on all things Mario Cart while he picked at the Easy Mac Julie had found in Tim's cupboard for him to eat.

Tim and Julie shared a knowing grin before Julie answered. "Tim made most of it," she said with a nod in his direction, hoping she wasn't blushing.

"She made the salad," Tim added. Jason narrowed his eyes at him in a questioning way.

"That's nice," Erin said with a nod.

Thinking Julie wasn't looking, Tim shared a knowing look with Jason, eliciting a chuckle from his best friend. Julie kicked him under the table.

"More salad?" Julie asked Erin innocently before dumping another spoonful in her bowl, not waiting on an answer.

–

"Well, I never thought I'd see the day," Jason said as he and Tim watched Noah steer his Mario Cart player around the track on the screen.

Erin and Julie were in the kitchen catching up; Erin had insisted on helping Julie clean up from dinner, but since take-out didn't leave messes (Julie told Erin she and Tim cleaned as they cooked), she had settled on another glass of wine instead.

Tim turned to him. "What day?"

"Domesticated Tim day," Jason said with a chuckle.

"I'm not domesticated," defense filled Tim's voice.

Jason lifted his eyebrows, challenging. "Let's see," he said, "furniture shopping, cooking, having a dinner party...seems pretty domesticated to me."

"What? No, she was just, uh, helping out."

"Tim," Jason knew he was fibbing.

"Jay," Tim pleaded, "I'm not going to rush into labeling this into something it is or isn't, alright? Yeah, she helped me shop for furniture and we had ya'll over to dinner and she helped, but I mean, _shit_, I said we didn't I?"

Jason nodded slowly as a knowing smirk formed on his lips.

"Just, don't say anything to anyone, I don't wanna mess this up."

"I won't," Jason confirmed. "Just wait until Coach finds out that his daughter is dating a Riggins boy," he said a few minutes later with a chuckle.

"I'm domesticated now; you said so yourself."

"He doesn't know that," reminded Jason.

"If it comes to that, Jay, he will," Tim said with a nod, confidence suddenly flooding him.

"So," Jason said a little later, "you planning on heading down to Dillon for the homecoming game? You know it's the fifth year anniversary of State."

"Five years?" Tim couldn't believe it had been that long.

Jason nodded. "Well, I hadn't really thought about it," Tim admitted.

"Last time I talked to Coach he said Buddy was planning on doing some kind of ceremony or party for the team before the game," said Jason.

Tim rolled his eyes. "If Buddy's planning it, it'll end bad."

"Probably," Jason confirmed, "but it'll also be hilarious."

Tim laughed at this. "You know that's true."

"What's true?" Julie asked, entering the room and settling on the sofa next to Tim.

"That things with Buddy Garrity always end bad," he explained. Julie nodded in agreement.

"How did he get into the conversation?" she asked.

"He's planning some event for the fifth anniversary of our State Championship the weekend of the homecoming game," explained Jason for the second time that evening.

"Five years, really?" Had it really been that long?

Jason and Tim both nodded. "Well, that'll be interesting."

Erin, meanwhile, was on the floor arguing with Noah that it was time to start getting ready to head home. "I think it's someone's bedtime," she commented at his crankiness.

"That's our cue," Jason said, wheeling over to help Erin.

"We had a great time," Erin said at the door. Apparently, Jason's manners had rubbed off.

"Thanks for comin'," Tim said, "we'll have to do it again."

Jason and Erin nodded.

"Ya'll have a safe ride back, alright?" Julie said after goodbye hugs had been made and Erin was loading Noah into the car.

Standing outside of Tim's brownstone, his arm wrapped protectively around Julie's waist, the pair waved as the little family drove away. Both had smiles stretched across their faces, not realizing that they looked more like a dedicated couple that two people who had been on a couple of dates.


	9. Chapter 9

_I had a little spare time on my hands last night, so here's a quick update for ya'll! _

--

One evening while Julie and Tim were walking through Central Park, enjoying the longer days that came with summer, he had admitted to her that the only reason he had agreed to do the _Cosmopolitan_ feature was because it gave him an excuse to ask her to dinner. At the time, she had laughed and been flattered; that was before she realized that it was her job on the line if he was in a bad mood at the shoot and gave curt answers to interview questions.

Now, the day of the shoot, Julie was starting to worry that he might do just that. It was morning, Tim was still at practice, and she was sitting at her desk making lists of things to-do lists for the afternoon. At the top of the list: sent Tim a threatening text message. She was only sort of joking when she wrote it; her nerves were always a little bit shot on big assignment days, but it was even worse that her maybe-boyfriend was included in the feature.

When the phone on her desk rang, she answered without glancing at the caller ID, her head too focused on the upcoming events of the day.

"Hey honey, I haven't heard from you in a while so I thought I would call to check up." It was her mother. Just what she needed right now.

Julie felt bad that she hadn't taken the time to pick up the phone and call home in the past few weeks, but she knew that both of her parents would be busy getting things ready for the upcoming school year and football season and didn't want to bother them. That, and she didn't want to spill the beans about dating Tim before things were serious.

"I know, I'm sorry, I've just been so busy with everything at work," Julie gave as a lame excuse.

"We understand, honey, we just miss you is all," Tami chirped through the phone. Julie could hear her dad and Gracie Belle chatting in the background.

"I miss ya'll too," Julie admitted, both to herself and Tami. She really did miss them, much more than she was willing to admit.

"Well you know what? You should come home one weekend this fall. Maybe for the homecoming game? Your father and I, and Gracie Belle, would love to see you," Tami suggested.

Julie pondered this. "Yeah, maybe I will. I could talk to Ti--," she caught herself, "Tyra and see if she's going to make the trip over from Austin."

"That sounds great, honey. Everyone's gonna be there, Buddy's planning some big thing for the 2006 State team." Julie could hear the excitement in her mother's voice.

"Yeah, Tim mentioned something about that," she said without thinking.

"Tim Riggins?" Tami asked, her voice a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"Yeah, uh, I went to dinner with him and Jason the other night. He's, you know, in the city now," she fumbled to cover herself.

"I know that, I just didn't realize you do were friends is all. Is he seeing anyone now, or just professional rally girls?"

If Tami only knew, Julie thought.

"I, uh, I think Tim's dating someone," It wasn't a lie. After all, he _was _dating someone...Julie was under no obligation to say who.

"Well, good for him then," Tami said finally.

"Uh huh," said Julie.

Tami then delved into a rambling discussion about everything from Gracie Belle's Pre-K class that was starting next month to the new aerobics class at the "Y" that she had signed up for..

Finally, Tami paused and Julie jumped on it. "Listen, mom, sorry to cut this short but I have to be somewhere in like, an hour."

"That's plenty of time, honey," Tami argued.

"In Texas, yes. In Manhattan, not so much," Julie reminded her.

"Oh, that's right. Okay, honey, well have fun and let me know what you decide about coming to visit!"

"I will, love you," Julie said, hanging up before Tami had a chance to answer.

–

When Julie walked into the studio on the other side of town where the shoot was being held, fifteen minutes late thanks to Tami, she was relieved when an intern informed her that everyone had arrived and was in hair and make-up. She did her best to ignore the girl's comments about how good looking the one with long hair was. Julie was pretty sure the exact words were something along the lines of "sex on a legs."

She decided to give Tim and his teammates some space while the hair and make-up people got them ready and passed them off to wardrobe, choosing to focus her attention on the interview questions that were dancing in her head but she had been neglecting to write out.

The commotion in the studio began to shift when the players were shuttled from wardrobe to the side of the room where the photographs would be taken. A small set of bleachers had been placed in front of a green screen and Julie was told there would be an image of either a football field or an empty stadium edited in. Tim, spotting Julie at the table, turned to her and winked.

Julie watched as the photographer ordered the trio around, insisting on getting some good group shots before she did individual ones. The other two players were nice enough looking, but neither compared with Tim. After a series of shots were taken, the photographer announced that she was done with the group and was now ready to move on to individual shots.

Tim was sent back to wardrobe while the other player not being used was sent to Julie for his interview. After practically dragging the answers to her questions out of the guy, Julie dismissed him and sent him back to wardrobe. How hard could it be to answer questions about their dating preferences and careers?

She was looking down at her notepad, attempting to find anything worthwhile in the previous interview, when Tim sauntered over and pulled out a chair, plopping down across from her. Looking up, she concluded that someone in wardrobe must be playing a joke on her because Tim was dressed only in a pair of rugged jeans and boots. This is going to be interesting, she thought.

"Hey," said Tim, completely oblivious to her staring. Julie assumed he must be used to it as he comfortably settled into his chair, arms crossed across his chest.

"Hi," she squeaked out. "Ready to get this over with?"

He nodded. "Okay, so name?"

Tim raised his eyebrows. "Right, I guess I know the first few," Julie said with a chuckle, writing down the first few questions on her notepad; name, age, hometown, occupation.

"Okay, so, did you always know you wanted to play in the NFL?" she asked the first question.

"I always _wanted_ to, but I didn't realize until my senior year at San Antonio State that it was a possibility."

"So, it was a surprise?"

He nodded. "Definitely; a nice one though."

"And have you always played? Was fullback always your position?"

Tim chuckled; Julie knew most of these things. "Played since pee-wee and minus a stint at running back after Smash Williams graduated, yeah, always fullback."

"Right," Julie said, pausing to write. "How old were you when you had your first kiss?"

Tim's eyes widened in surprise. "What does this have anything to do with football?" he asked.

"Our readers_ are_ mostly female, Tim. This is _Cosmopolitan_, not _Sports Illustrated_," she explained.

"Right," he nodded. "I was seven."

"Seven?"

"Tyra," he answered simply. It was enough of an explanation for Julie.

"Makes sense," she said with a giggle. "Age you lost your virginity?"

"Fourteen," he said, kind of cringing. Julie's eyebrows shot up. "Rally girl," he added.

"Maybe we should leave that out of the article," Julie commented, blushing at his answer. Not that she was surprised in any way; of course she knew his past reputation, everyone in Dillon did.

"Good call," Tim agreed.

"Favorite thing about the city?" she asked next. Tim was glad that she had moved away from relationship questions.

He grinned. "Easy," he said, "the company." At this, he leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed.

Julie blushed again. "As much as I adore that answer, our readers won't," she said.

"I don't care. It's the truth." Tim shrugged.

"My editor cares," said Julie in a pleading tone.

"Alright," he paused to think, "having the opportunity to do what I love and get paid for it."

"Much better," Julie said with a grin.

"Mr. Riggins!" The photographer yelled from across the studio. "We're ready for you over here!"

He stood. "Gotta go," Tim smirked before strutting away.

Julie's final interviewee approached, but she didn't notice; she was too busy checking out Tim's receding figure.

"Uh, hi," the guy said as he sat. He seemed nervous, reminding Julie of Matt Saracen.

"Oh, hey," she said. "Are you ready?"

"Shoot," he said.

She asked him the same string of questions that she did Tim and the first guy, though his answers weren't quite as interesting or flattering. The entire time she had to make a conscious effort to draw her gaze away from where Tim was being photographed across the room, which was hard considering how he kept smirking it at her in his half-naked glory, his hair falling sexily in front of his eyes. Finally, Julie finished after rushing through the questions.

Noticing that the photographer was taking a break to change her memory card, she sauntered over to where Tim was relaxing against the bleachers. He met her gaze as she approached and his smirk evolved into a smile.

She sat next to him on the bleachers and he turned his body to face hers, his legs settled on either side of the bench; Julie mirrored his actions so that they were face to face, thankful she was allowed to wear jeans instead of a nicer outfit since she wasn't in the office all day.

"Everything okay over here?" Julie asked, her hands unconsciously coming to rest on his thighs, her thumbs gently rubbing circles.

He nodded, smirking. "Great now," said Tim, his voice an octave lower than it had been earlier. Julie tried not to swoon.

"I saw some of the proofs on the computer," she said, "you look the best out of group."

Surprise filled his features. "Really? I feel ridiculous with all this make-up and my hair all done and the wardrobe lady wouldn't let me put on a shirt," he whined. Julie laughed at his words.

"Who can blame her?" she asked.

Tim shrugged. "Come here," he said, grabbing her waist and pulling her closer to him.

Unsatisfied with her level of closeness, Tim lifted her legs from behind her knees and settled them across his.

"_Tim_," Julie whispered, her voice full of scandal. "There are people here."

He ignored her, instead he reached up to cup her face in his hands before pulling her in for a kiss. "It' s okay, she went to get some memory card thing," he said, coming up briefly for air. "We can play for a bit."

Julie, her thoughts no longer on where they were or who could be watching, simply nodded before attacking his lips again. Sighing into his mouth, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself ever closer to him than before.

Tim's hands slid down her thighs, closer to her body, before snaking around her waist and coming to a rest on her lower back. As she opened her mouth, making room for their tongues to mingle, Julie allowed her hands to travel down the front of his chest, exploring the exposed muscle that she had always only enjoyed from a distance. Simultaneously, Tim's hands traveled under her shirt, slowly exploring her lower back as his fingers drew tiny circles across it.

The photographer, having returned with a fresh memory card and wearing shoes that were quiet as she approached, silently prepared her camera and quickly began snapping pictures. Oblivious to her actions, Tim and Julie continued to exist in their own private world.

Breathing deeply, Julie reluctantly pulled her lips away from Tim's. Their foreheads still touching while they both caught their breath, Tim smirked while Julie blushed. She couldn't believe she had just been so utterly indecent in public.

"Well done," they both heard the photographer suddenly announce. "I wasn't aware we were bringing in models today," she said.

Both eyes widened in surprise, instantly they pulled away from one another. Julie jumped up. "We, uh, weren't," she said, dashing to the other side of the studio.

On the way to the table where her things were gathered, she yelled, "Thanks for the great interview, Mr. Riggins," without turning to his direction. Tim knew her face was about as red as the shirt she had been wearing.

_Note: Thanks again for reading and reviewing...I'm having so much fun writing this story and I hope that ya'll are too! _


	10. Chapter 10

When Julie made it back to the _Cosmopolitan_ offices later that afternoon, news of her earlier actions with Tim were buzzing around the office. Reactions ranged from complete surprise to insane jealously, though pretty much everyone wondered how Julie had managed to make it happen.

Not surprisingly, Daphne was waiting for her when she got to her desk. "Details," the brunette demanded seconds after Julie sat.

Julie sighed and leaned back into her chair. Instead of giving Daphne an explanation, she tossed the proofs from the shoot across the desk for her to inspect. The actions, after all, would speak louder than her words.

"Damn," was all Daphne could say after she flipped through them.

Julie clicked her tongue to the roof of her mouth. "Yep," she said.

"Are you going to show them to Kate?"

"She already has a copy," Julie whined. "Which explains how everyone in this room knows, I'm assuming."

"Actually, that new intern, Becca, called and told Christie, who blabbed to everyone else."

"That figures."

"What does?" Daphne asked.

"Becca was going on and on earlier about how hot Tim was. She's just jealous," explained Julie.

"Well, you can't exactly blame her. Look at the man," Daphne fanned herself to prove a point.

Julie chuckled, a bit of stress leaving her body. "True."

"Miss Taylor?" Kate's assistant, Emily, asked.

Julie cringed before standing. "Wish me luck," she said to Daphne before entering her editor's office.

"Would you like to explain?" Kate asked, gesturing to the photos of Tim and Julie from the shoot that were spread across her desk.

Julie bit her lip; a worthy explanation didn't come to mind. "He used to play for my dad," was the best thing she could come up with.

It wasn't good enough. "Excuse me?" Kate asked, confusion clear on her face.

"You know," Julie said, "football."

"Ah, I see. That doesn't tell me why you are taking advantage of him at one of our shoots."

"I wasn't taking advantage," Julie defended herself, "we're kind of, uh, dating. But we weren't before you gave me the assignment."

"I see," said Kate. She was fond of the phrase.

"Well, regardless, it's just the thing we like around here. Sex sells, you know. The feature will run in October, just in time for football season, with this photo." She pointed to the last image, where they were touching foreheads, both catching their breath; Tim was smirking and Julie was blushing, smiling shyly. Her lips were clearly swollen from the kissing, the look being shared between the duo giving away everything.

"Are you sure?" Julie asked, panicked. Her mother could not see this. Or her father. _Shit_.

"Positive," she said.

Julie just stared at her, unable to come up with an argument. She was pretty sure something along the lines of "my father will kill me and my mother will dispose of the body" wouldn't convince her to not use the photo. After all, Kate had never been witness to an Eric Taylor blow-up before.

"That's all," Kate spat, dismissing Julie with a flip of her wrist.

–

Tim headed home after he was finished at the shoot, running upstairs and changing into a pair of sweatpants and an old Panthers shirt as soon as he walked inside. Back downstairs, he collapsed onto the sofa and changed the channel to Sports Center. Julie had been right, it was nice to have furniture to sit on after a long day. Twisting open the bottle of beer he had gotten from the kitchen, his attention turned to the baseball game from earlier in the day that was being recapped.

He must have dozed off, because the next thing he knew it was almost seven and there was a furious knocking at his door. Slowly standing from his couch, he padded over and swung it open. Of course it wasn't locked.

"Jules," he drawled when he saw who was standing in front of him.

"Tim," she spat, brushing past him and heading straight for the kitchen.

"Can I get you something?" he half joked as he followed her.

"I just need a drink," she explained, twisting open a bottle of beer and chugging half of it in one gulp before stomping into the living room.

Tim wasn't really sure what to do, so he got another beer for himself and followed her.

"She's using it," Julie offered as an explanation as Tim entered the room.

Judging by the stomping and the tone of her voice, he figured that giving Julie some space would be the best option for his safety right now, so he sat on the chair opposite the sofa where she had settled.

"Who's using what?" Tim asked, leaning forward in the chair.

"Kate is, my boss. She's using the picture, our picture, the picture of us on the bleachers from earlier today," Julie rambled, the volume of her voice rising with every world.

Tim wasn't really sure what his reaction was, or what it was supposed to be, so he waited for Julie to continue.

"Does this not bother you at all?" she asked. "The fact that a nationally circulated magazine is going to be printing pictures of us where we are making out of have clearly just finished? It's the equivalent of having a press conference to say, 'Oh hey, by the way Tim Riggins and Julie Taylor are dating and couldn't keep their hands off of each other for twenty minutes for Tim to make it through a photo shoot.'"

"Well, that is kind of the truth," Tim said with a shrug.

Julie rolled her eyes and continued. "That's beside the point, Tim. My _mother_ reads _Cosmopolitan,_ I try to pretend that I don't know why, but she does regardless. That means she, and my father and the rest of Texas, hell the rest of the nation, are going to jump to conclusions about a relationship that we may or may not be in," she explained.

"Are you saying you don't want your parents to find out about us? Because that's what it's soundin' like," Tim said a few seconds after Julie continued her mini monologue.

"No, no of course not," Julie tried to assure him. "I just don't want them to find out about us in a magazine before I even really know what we are," she admitted.

"What we are?"

Julie nodded, her eyes pouting.

"Come here," Tim announced, sitting back into the chair and opening his arms.

Julie stood and slowly walked over to where he was, standing awkwardly in front of him.

"Sit," he said, gesturing to his lap. Still a bit unsure, Julie climbed into his waiting arms.

Once she was settled, Tim spoke. "I think it's pretty clear what we are, Jules," he said softly, his voice deeper than it had been earlier.

"It is?" Julie asked in a little voice, turning her head to meet his gaze.

He nodded. "Don't you know I'm crazy about you?" he asked, his fingers tracing little circles on her back.

"I guess."

"Well, I am. Which is why you're going to go to the homecoming game in Dillon with me in September," he paused, "as my girlfriend."

Julie's eyes widened. "You're girlfriend?"

"My girlfriend," Tim repeated himself, a smile breakout out on his face in reaction to the one forming on hers.

She giggled. "Tim Riggins, boyfriend," she whispered. Julie was surprised to hear those three words together, especially in relation to her. "It sounds so foreign."

"Get used to it," he said, pulling her closer to him before turning her head and depositing a kiss, full of promise and tenderness, on her lips. Unlike their previous kisses, it was slow and gentle, like they had all of the time in the world.

"How are you going to break it to my dad?" Julie asked when they broke away. She knew the question made her sound like an awkward teenager, but it wasn't like Tim and her family didn't have a past they needed to break past.

Tim chuckled. "Maybe I'll make an announcement at halftime," he joked. "Honestly, though, I'm more concerned about your mom."

"My mom?"

"Tami Taylor is a scary woman," he said, feigning fear in his voice.

Julie pondered this. "I guess she is kind of the boss in the Taylor household," she conceded.

"She is," Tim agreed.

"You really wanna go to Dillon?" Julie asked.

Tim nodded. "They're the only ones that matter, really."

_Note: So...thoughts? Ready for Dillon? Let me know! I hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter :)_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N: This is more of a filler chapter than anything to kind of set the stage for the next few. Hope ya'll enjoy it! As always, let me know what you think and I promise you'll get a quick update :)_

Almost as if they blinked and missed it, August flew by for Julie and Tim in a string of days spent at their respective places of work and evenings spent with each other talking, laughing, and learning. Before they knew it, flights were being scheduled and bags packed for their trip home to Dillon.

As if fate has orchestrated it, Tim's first bye-week of the football season coincided with the September homecoming game. For some unknown reason, his coaches were being charitable and gave the team Friday off of practice. Probably, Tim assumed, it was because the season had started with a pair of wins.

Julie flew out on Thursday morning, having taken both it and Friday off of work so that she could have a decent weekend home. Tami insisted on picking her up at the airport, even though Julie assured her that she could rent a car and easily make the drive from Midland to Dillon.

Tim, on the other hand, didn't head down to Texas until late Thursday evening after practice. Because his flight wasn't scheduled to arrive until half past midnight, he was planning on renting a truck and making the drive home himself.

Of course, Tim was the type who flew by the seat of his pants, so calling ahead to reserve a vehicle wasn't really on the top of his list of things to do. Which explains why, when he got to the rental car booth and requested a truck, he was informed that everything was already reserved. Something about a homecoming game, the man behind the counter had said.

Weighing his options, Tim knew that if he called Billy this hour he would risk waking up Mindy and the kids as well, something that infuriated his brother. Scrolling further through his contacts, his only other option it seemed was to call Julie and hope that the time change had affected her in a backwards way and was keeping her up.

--

With a final sigh, Julie rolled out of bed and padded into the dark kitchen, using her Blackberry as a source of light in case Tami had decided to add any random tables in the hallway that could cause bodily harm. Unable to sleep, she was hopeful that a glass of tea would help settle her racing mind.

She sat her phone on the counter after turning on a lamp before digging through the cabinets for a kettle to heat some water. While she was turning on the stove, the faint echo of her phone vibrating against the counter drew her to where it was resting.

Checking the caller ID, she was surprised to see Tim's name flash across the screen. She had assumed that by now he would have been fast asleep in the bed at Billy and Mindy's.

"Hello," she whispered into the receiver after pressing the green button to answer.

"Jules, hey," said Tim. She could hear airport noises in the background. "I, uh, was wondering if you could come pick me up at the airport?"

"Come pick you up? Tim, it's almost one in the morning," she hissed, attempting to keep her voice down.

She was unsuccessful, hearing her parent's door creak open.

"Please Jules, I can't call Billy and wake up the kids again or he'll be pissed at me all weekend for making them grumpy and they're all out of rental cars here," he explained, hope in his voice.

Julie sighed as her father entered the room. "I told you that you needed to make a reservation," she reminded him. "But fine, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Thanks," she heard him murmur before she disconnected the call.

"Who was that?" Eric asked the second Julie finished her conversation with Tim.

"Uh, Tim Riggins," she answered truthfully.

Her father's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Why is Riggins callin' you at this hour?"

"He's, uh, stuck at the airport," Julie offered as an explanation.

Eric rubbed his chin while pondering her answer. "Well, come on, let's go get him," he said after a few agonizing seconds.

"No, no you need your rest for the game tomorrow. I'll, uh, go by myself."

"I'll be alright, I'm a big boy. Go get dressed," Eric assured her before she hurried off to her room to change from her pajama shorts into jeans.

--

Julie was furiously typing a text message warning to Tim that her father would be joining her when Eric spoke. "You are Tim Riggins big buddies up there in New York?"

"I guess so," Julie answered. She wasn't sure how to answer the question without announcing that they were dating. "It's, uh, nice to see a familiar face once in while." _Or almost everyday_, she thought.

Eric was silent, his eyes trained on the road. "How often is every once in a while?" he asked later.

"Uh, just, you know," Julie fumbled, avoiding a clear answer.

"No, I don't," Eric joked, his gaze shifting to Julie. She was fidgeting in her seat.

"We just grab lunch once in a while," she finally said. It was the truth, she just omitted the dinners and movies and other times they saw each other.

"So you're friends?"

"Yes," Julie answered, "we're friends. Otherwise I wouldn't be driving to Midland in the middle of the night to pick him up."

--

"Thanks again, Coach," Tim said awkwardly from where he stood by the passenger side window as Eric and Julie dropped him off at the same house he had spent his childhood and teenage years in.

"You're welcome, son," Eric answered.

Tim was immediately taken back at his statement. He remembered that Eric referred to most of his players as 'son,' but he wondered if he would be singing the same song if he knew that he was dating his daughter.

"Jules," he added with a smirk and a nod.

She smirked back. "Night, Tim," she said in the tone that drove him crazy in a good way, the one she used around her family when she thought something was funny or awkward but didn't want them to know.

After one final wave, and a wink at Julie that he hoped Eric didn't see, he turned and walked up the short sidewalk and into the house. Everyone was asleep, as he knew they would be, judging by the lack of lights on in the house so he went straight to what Billy had assured him a few nights prior on the phone was still his room. Opening the door, he was relieved to see his bed still in tact, though his other miscellaneous items (most notably the Christmas lights hanging above his bed) had been removed.

After slipping off his boots, he collapsed onto his bed and allowed the tension that had built up in his shoulders during the car ride to Dillon where it had taken every ounce of his willpower to keep from holding Julie's hand or resting his palm on her thigh to fall away.

Twenty minutes later, however, he found himself completely unable to settle his thoughts and fall asleep. Jumping up out of his bed and darting to the kitchen where he knew the keys to his old truck would be hanging on a hook, he grabbed them and raced out the front door. Julie Taylor, he decided, need more of a proper goodnight than his nod had provided.

--

Groaning at the interruption of her sleep, Julie rolled over and glared at the window. There was a sound coming from it that she wasn't familiar with; either a new tree had been planted and its branches were slapping against the glass or someone, or something, outside wanted in.

Sighing, she tumbled out of bed and crossed to the window. Lifting the blinds, she was shocked to see Tim standing on the other side. Quickly, she unlocked the window and slid it up. "What are you doing here?" she hissed through her teeth, attempting more to be quiet than angry.

"I wanted to say goodnight," Tim said. A twinkle in his eye was evident even in the darkness.

Julie leaned out the window. "Is that so?" she asked.

He nodded, biting his lip. "It is," he drawled. The Dillon twang he tried to hard to lose in New York once again occupying his voice.

"I'm guessin' it would be a bad idea for me to climb in?" he asked.

"Yes," Julie said with a smirk, "it would."

"Well, then," he began, choosing to finish the sentence with actions instead of words as he lifted his hands to cup her face and bring her lips to his.

Julie tried to resist at first, just because she was standing inside her parent's house, but eventually gave in to his kisses. Sighing into him, she inwardly cursed the windowsill that was cutting into her hips.

"Goodnight," he whispered against her lips when breaking apart for air was necessary. Releasing her from his grasp, he turned and began to strut back towards his old truck and climbed in. A small wave through the window and he was gone.

Julie practically floated back to bed, instantly falling asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

One thing was for sure, Buddy Garrity's love for Dillon football was just as strong, if not stronger, as it had been during Tim and Julie's high school years. The fanfare that he had orchestrated to honor the fifth anniversary of Coach Taylor's first state championship and its team surely rivaled that of one that had won an NCAA national championship. The day had begun with a brunch, team members and coaches only, to be followed by a pre-game ceremony to honor the team and a halftime tribute by the band. Topping off the night was a party for that infamous team and their families at the Dillon Lodge.

As the 2006 State Championship team stood in the middle of the field twenty minutes before kick-off, a highlight reel of the season playing on the highly controversial jumbotron, Julie sat in the stands with Tami, Gracie Belle, and Tyra, who had driven over from Austin where she was working as a high school counselor for the weekend. With every eye in the stadium turned to the video playing, Julie's were settled on Tim where he was standing, sandwiched between Smash and Jason. Panther blue, she was quickly remembering, sure did suit him well.

When Tim caught her eye, smirked, and then shifted his attention back to the jumbotron, so did she, a smile playing on her lips.

"Julie?" Tyra asked her over the cheering of the crowd around them.

"Yeah?" Julie turned her attention from the screen to Tyra.

"Is there, uh, something going on with you and Riggins?"

Julie was sure she blushed. "Uh, no, uh, why do you say that?"

"Because," Tyra paused, "you two have been making googly eyes at each other the entire time this video has been playin'."

"No we haven't," defended Julie.

Tyra gave her a famous Collette smirk. "You know, your eyes are doing this thing where they don't match your mouth," she said.

Julie opened her mouth to speak then shut it again. "Okay, fine," she whispered to Tyra, hoping that Tami would be too occupied with Gracie Belle to notice.

"We've been dating for a few months, but no one really knows yet," she nodded in Tami's direction. "Tim and I want to tell my parents together, for obvious reasons, so I would appreciate if you would withhold any scolding or squealing until later."

"Scolding or squealing?"

"Well, either you're gonna be pissed at me or happy for me, so I covered my bases," Julie explained.

Tyra contemplated this. "Is this a sick joke?"

"No," Julie answered bluntly, turning her attention back to the field where Buddy was now holding a microphone, no doubt about to start praising the team like they were gods.

"We will talk about this before you go back to New York," Tyra said firmly.

"Yes, mom," Julie responded sarcastically. "So, how's Landry?" she then asked, attempting to turn attention away from her relationship with Tim.

Tyra's face lit up. "He's real good, he had to stay in Austin this weekend and write a paper, but he sends his best to everyone."

"That's good, Tyra," Julie smiled.

"Yeah," she said, "it is."

Finally, Buddy finished his speech and most of the former Panthers dispersed back into the stands as the coaches headed back into the locker rooms, the stars of the championship team going with them to help pump up and inspire a new generation of Panthers. Tim, of course, was among them.

--

"Clear eyes. Full hearts," Eric said from the front of the locker room, his team kneeling in front of him as per pregame tradition.

"Can't lose," the team said in unison, their voices rising in volume as they repeated the team's battle cry.

The locker room was updated, more high tech than it had been in Tim and Smash's day, but as the pair stood next to their former coach and helped him pump up the team, memories flooded back. No doubt, the duo that had been the heart and soul that drove them to state were two of the biggest success stories to come out of Dillon High School. Tim, of course going to the Giants, while Smash had found a team home with the Cowboys.

"CAN'T LOSE," the players finally said at full volume before jumping up and herding out of the building, hands to the "P" on the wall, another tradition that had carried through the years.

Tim and Smash stood, watching the team file out with the coaches behind them. Once they were alone, Tim turned to his former teammate.

"Can you believe all this, Two-Oh?" he asked.

Smash shook his head, a smirk forming on his lips. "Barely, Riggs. Who would have thought that out of that entire team, you and me would be the two that were still playin' after all these years?"

Tim laughed at this. "Five years, man," he drawled.

"Ain't nothing like it," Smash commented, casually walking around the locker room and examining how things had changed, how they had stayed the same.

Tim knew exactly what he meant. Nothing, no one—not San Antonio State, not the Giants—did football the way that Dillon did. The traditions, the fans, the atmosphere were beyond compare.

"You ever miss this?" Tim asked, knowing that Smash would understand what he was referring to.

Smash nodded. "All the time," he said.

"Me too, man," Tim said. "Come on, let's get out there and see what Coach has in store for these boys from Arnett Meade."

--

The second half of the game kicked off with the ballgame tied at 14, both Tim and Smash on the sidelines pumping up the team and giving them small pointers here and there. As the game continued, an old fashioned shoot-out ensued with the teams alternating touchdowns and field goals until late in the fourth quarter.

With less than twenty seconds left to go in the game, the score was once again tied and the Panthers had the ball. Julie looked down onto the field to see her father huddled with his offense, Tim standing next to him and drawing a play out on the whiteboard. A proud grin spread across her face. Maybe announcing their relationship to her parents wouldn't be so bad after all, it seemed that her father's trust in Tim was strong.

As the team took the field, Julie could practically feel the anticipation running through her veins, butterflies erupting in her stomach. The offense lined up, the quarterback in a shotgun position, before the center released the ball. A receiver, she noticed, was streaking down the sideline. Suddenly, a hard thrown pass was soaring across the field, coming to a gentle rest in the arms of the receiver.

The stadium erupted in cheers as the referee signaled a touchdown. Almost immediately, fans and parents alike began to flood the field, Julie, Tami, and Tyra among them.

When Julie reached the field, she was torn as to whom she should approach first: Tim or her father. She tried to think back to what she would do when she was dating Matt, but she realized the situation was a bit different then because they were in high school and her ties were, of course, to her family first. Now, though, she felt a strong desire to congratulate Tim on his successful play calling. After all, her dad had Tami for that.

Scanning the field, she made a decision to seek out Tim first when she saw her father wrapped in a warm embrace with Tami, Gracie Belle next in line. Before another thought had a chance to cross her mind, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist and lift her off the ground, twirling her around before planting her back on the field.

Julie knew those arms well, and of course they were Tim's. Squealing with excitement, she turned in his arms and threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so proud of you," she said into his ear, hoping he would hear her over the excitement.

He pulled away, a full smile on his face. "Wasn't it incredible? Jules, it was like your dad told me I could do whatever I wanted and he trusted me with the game. _The game_, Jules" he emphasized the last bit of his statement, excitement clear in his voice.

Forgetting where they were in the midst of the excitement, Julie met the grin on his face with her own lips quickly—not enough for anyone to really notice, but enough Tim to tell she had kissed him.

A booster coming over to congratulate Tim on his success with football and the game that had just transpired, unfortunately, interrupted their moment. After thanking the man and watching him walk off, Tim threw his arm across Julie's shoulders. "You know," he murmured into her ear, "I think your dad might take the news about us better than we thought."

Julie turned to meet his gaze. "I think so, too," she said with wide, happy eyes. "When do you want to break the news?"

"You know, I always say no time like the present," he said before leaning in to whisper in her ear, "that, and I want to kiss you so bad right now I'm having to consciously make an effort not to."

She giggled at this. "So what's your plan then?"

"Well, I _could_ just kiss you, and then it would all be taken care of," he joked.

Playfully, she slapped him in the chest. "Or," he paused, "we could divide and conquer them tomorrow. I'll take your dad, see if he wants to look at film or head out the driving range and you and your mom could go do something girly like get that weird thing done with your feet and you could casually drop the bomb then."

"Drop the bomb?" Julie asked sarcastically.

Tim playfully rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean," he drawled.

"I think that your little plan just might work, Thirty-Three," Julie said, her voice an imitation of a coach.

"It better work," Tim paused, "because I have somewhere I want to show you tomorrow night."

Julie's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What is it?" She was curious.

"You'll see," he smirked.

Julie smiled and shook her head back and forth at this. She was quickly realizing that the more vague Tim was about something, the better it ended up being.

"You two headin' over to the Lodge?" Jason asked as he wheeled over with Erin, Noah, and Tyra in tow, putting an end to their conversation. For the first time since Tim approached her, Julie noticed that the field was beginning to empty.

Julie nodded. "I'm riding with my parents, but I was supposed to tell you that if you want ya'll can send Noah home with Gracie Belle and her babysitter for the party," she told Jason.

"Thanks, Julie, that'd be great," Erin said with a smile. Julie launched into a rambling statement about who the babysitter was and how Tami had insisted that they share with Jason and Erin.

Meanwhile, Jason turned his attention to Tim. "You still haven't told them, man?"

Tim shook his head no in response.

"Wait," Tyra broke into the boys' conversation, "they knew before I did?" she asked, gesturing between Jason and Erin.

Both Jason and Tim nodded. "In our defense," Jason said, "we are at geographical advantage."

Tyra rolled her eyes. "Unbelievable," she muttered under her breath, stalking away to where Julie and Erin were standing a few feet away.

--

Tim was standing off to the side alone, enjoying a quiet moment away from the never-ending parade of boosters and the crazy older women trying to hit on him when he saw his former coach headed in his direction.

"Riggins," Eric said as he approached.

"Coach," said Tim, standing a little straighter and accepting the man's hand to shake it.

"Sorry I haven't gotten a chance to thank ya yet, you know how those boosters can get," he chuckled.

Tim nodded, calmly waiting for him to continue. "The point is, you did a great job tonight. I'm proud of you, son." There it was again. The phrase that kind of made Tim's knees suddenly feel like jello.

"Thanks, Coach," Tim said with a grin. "You know, I was thinkin' maybe I could go over some game film with you tomorrow or something. I mean, I know you usually do that on Sunday's but I'll be leaving then."

Surprise filtered over Eric's features. "You wanna spend your last day visiting home watchin' game film?"

"Never hurts to practice," Tim answered with a shrug.

"Well, alright," Eric nodded, "you could probably find some stuff I can't, anyway. Why don't you stop by the house after lunch? I think Tami and Jules are planning some secretive 'girls only' thing in the afternoon so we'll have the TV to ourselves."

Tim grinned. "Sounds great, Coach."

Now all he had to do was figure out the perfect way to announce to his mentor, the man who had helped mold him into what he was today, that he was dating his baby girl.

* * *

A/N: I know, I know everyone is ready for Julie and Tim to "announce" their relationship to the Taylor's...I promise it's coming soon :) Hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter!


	13. Chapter 13

Standing outside of the Taylor's front door, Tim was quite possibly more nervous than he had been in his entire life. Butterflies were dancing in stomach while sweat poured out of the glands in his palms. Finally gathering up the bravery to knock on the door, attempting to convince himself that it simply was an afternoon of watching film with Coach, he lifted his fist to knock. Before he was able to rap it against the wooden door, however, it swung open to reveal Julie and Tami on their way out.

"Uh, hi," he drawled with a grin.

"Oh, hey Tim honey," Tami spoke first, "Eric's just waitin' for ya in the living room."

He nodded but didn't move; his feet were apparently glued to the ground. "Alright, thanks," he finally squeaked out.

"Ya'll have fun," Julie said sarcastically, brushing past him as Tami followed with Gracie Belle on her heels, the only sign of assurance she gave him as she did was a gentle pat on the back.

Once they were both loaded into Tami's car and pulling out of the driveway, Tim made his way into the living room where Eric was sitting on the sofa, already watching film, with a beer in his left hand.

"Coach," Tim greeted as he sat in the chair opposite the sofa.

Eric nodded in greeting. "Wanna beer or something?"

"I'm good," Tim responded, probably for the first time in his life.

"You sure?" Eric asked, obviously surprised by his refusal of alcohol.

Tim nodded.

Soon, they fell into a comfortable routine of watching the game film, rewinding, and critiquing it. Eventually, Tim's thoughts were so focused on the players and the game in front of him that his original reason for coming fell from his mind.

When Eric stood for a second beer and began to ask questions, however, Tim's afternoon mission flew to the forefront of his mind once again.

"You see Julie a lot up there in the New York, Riggins?" he heard Eric ask from the kitchen.

"Yes sir," Tim answered politely, waiting for Eric to give him an opening.

"You know," Eric commented as he reentered the living room, "Tami and I were a bit worried about her a few months back after graduation when all her new college friends went their separate ways. Seems like she's been better off since you've been up there."

"Is that right?" Tim asked, his heart swelling with pride in his chest.

"It is," Eric said. "I'm just curious though how you two came to be such good buddies up there is all."

Tim shrugged, it wasn't something he had really sat down and thought about. "I guess we were both drawn to the familiar."

"You weren't exactly friends in Dillon," Eric pointed out.

Tim nodded in agreement. "I know," he said.

"The thing is Coach, Julie and I spend a lot of time together, to be honest. I suppose it's because she's the only person up there, besides Jay, that I can truly believe is with me because of me, not because of my career," he admitted.

Eric narrowed his eyes. "With you?" he asked.

"What I'm saying, Coach, is that I'm kind of dating your daughter." Probably, he thought to himself, I should have accepted that drink.

--

As Julie watched the woman at the nail salon paint her toenails the shade of red she had chosen when she walked through the door, her thoughts traveled to the conversation that Tim and her father were likely having. To the casual observer she looked like she was enjoying an afternoon with her mother and little sister, but on the inside she was hoping and praying that things were going well at her home.

"Penny for your thoughts," said Tami, realizing that Julie hadn't flipped the page of the magazine she was holding in a good five minutes.

She figured she might as well be honest. "Just wonderin' how things are going with Tim and Dad," she said casually.

Tami's eyebrows furrowed. "I'm sure they're fine, honey, you know how those boys get when they start in on that game film; they're probably half way through a six pack by now," she assured Julie.

Julie nodded slowly causing Tami's motherly intuition to go into overdrive; something was bothering her girl.

"What else is it, honey?"

It's now or never, Julie thought to herself. "Promise you won't freak out?"

"Promise," Tami said quickly.

"Probably right about now Tim is telling dad that we're dating and have been for a few months," Julie blurted out.

--

"You're _kind of_ dating my daughter?" Eric asked with wide eyes as he moved to the edge of his seat, his attention shifting from the TV to Tim.

Tim wasn't sure if it was anger or complete shock at being blind sighted by the news that he heard in his voice.

"I guess, I mean we _are_ dating," Tim corrected himself as he moved to the edge of the chair he was in, mirroring Eric's position.

Eric nodded slowly. "How long's this been goin' on?"

"A couple of months." Tim ran his hands through his hair nervously.

"I see," Eric said, apparently gathering his thoughts.

"Is that, uh, okay with you, sir?"

"Depends," Eric said. "You treatin' her alright?"

Tim nodded.

"No rally girls, no crazy parties with the team?"

Tim shook his head no. "Of course not, Coach."

"You know she ain't like anyone you've been with before, Riggins. She's my daughter," said Eric, his eyes growing wider with each statement.

"I know," Tim nodded. Suddenly, his feet were very interesting.

"And you know if you do anything, _anything_, to hurt her, then I hurt you. I know I'm not your Coach anymore, but I am your girlfriend's father which gives me that power."

Tim continued nodding.

"You respect her, you treat her right and we'll be alright. You got that?"

"Yes sir," said Tim.

"Alright," Eric sat back against the sofa cushions.

"You know Julie could have just told me about the two of you on the way to Midland the other night," he commented a minute or so later.

"She knew that I wanted to tell you," Tim paused, "she knew that I wanted to tell you so that I could look you in the eye and make sure that I had your blessing to date her."

Eric smiled at this. "Riggins, I've known you for a long time, son, a long time. I've watched you mature, both on the football field and off and I know that conversation we just had wasn't easy for you," he paused, "hell it wasn't a cake walk for me. But son, I admire your bravery and determination. The man you've matured into makes me proud to have you as my daughter's boyfriend."

"Thank you, sir," Tim said with a wide grin, finally allowing himself to relax back into the chair he was sitting on the edge of.

"Tim," Eric pleaded, "one more thing."

"What's that?"

"Quit calling me 'sir'."

Tim chuckled. "I think I can do that, Coach."

Eric stood and began to head into the kitchen again. "You want that beer now?" he asked on his way. "I think Texas is playin' Oklahoma today. We could watch that before the ladies get home, I'm sure my wife will force you to stay for dinner."

"Probably," Tim agreed, he could practically hear Eric rolling his eyes at Tami and the invitation that was sure to come when they got home. "A beer would be great, Coach."

--

Tami's erupted into laughter. "That's a good one, Jules," she said in between giggles.

"Mom," Julie said, attempting to convince her. "I'm serious."

Tami immediately stopped laughing and straightened in her chair. "You're really not kidding?" she asked, noticing the sincere look on Julie's face.

"No," Julie said, biting her lip.

"But I thought you said he was seeing someone in the city?"

"I did," Julie agreed. "I just didn't say who."

"It was you?" Tami asked, her eyebrows lifting in surprise.

Again, Julie nodded. She was fairly sure that her mother wouldn't hear any words she decided to use as an explanation.

"You know, I thought I saw you two making googly eyes at each other at the game last night," Tami commented.

"That's the same thing Tyra said," Julie said with a grin.

Tami slowly nodded, digesting the information that was just thrown at her. "You wanna start from the beginning, honey?" she finally asked.

"Uh, sure," Julie said, launching into the story of how she and Tim had run into each other at the gala for the Ronald McDonald House she had attended. Stopping only briefly when Tami needed clarification, she loosely chronicled their story from then until now, omitting of course the kitchen incidents and the _Cosmopolitan_ shoot.

"And you left him all alone with your Dad to tell him about ya'll?" Tami asked when Julie finished with a sigh.

Julie shrugged. "He wanted to," she explained innocently.

"I see," Tami said, allowing all of the information Julie had just spouted to sink in fully. By now they were sitting in the front of the nail salon, Gracie Belle in the chair across from them, waiting for their nails to dry.

"And you're okay with me dating _Tim Riggins_?" Julie asked, emphasizing Tim's name so that her mother would know that with it, she was carrying his reputation.

"Jules, honey, you're a big girl and I trust your judgment," Tami said. "That, and I can see that Tim isn't the same boy that he was in Dillon. He's grown up."

"He has," Julie agreed. "How do you think Dad took it?"

Tami shrugged before removing her hands from the nail dryer and reaching for her purse. "I honestly have no idea, you never know with your father. Wanna go find out?"

Julie nodded and stood, repeating Tami's actions. "Let's go."

--

Cheering from the living room greeted the Taylor women as they entered the house. After sharing a confused look, Tami and Julie followed the noise into the living room while Gracie Belle escaped to her room to play with her Barbie dolls. Arriving in the room, Julie was surprised at the sight before her. Eric was sitting on the sofa with his eyes trained on the television while Tim did the same from his chair. Six empty beer bottles were scattered across the coffee table.

"Honey?" Tami asked, taking a seat next to Eric.

"Oh, hey babe, how was your afternoon?" he asked, turning to Tami with a goofy grin.

"It was fine," she said. "Sweetie, what's goin on in here?"

"We're just watchin' some football," Eric said, stating the obvious.

Tami rolled her eyes before turning to meet Julie's gaze from where she had taken up residence on the arm of Tim's chair. His arm, Tami noted, was lazily wrapped around Julie's waist.

Julie shrugged, the look she shared with her mother silently agreeing that the conversation between the two men in her life had gone well.

"Tim, honey, you wanna stay for dinner?" Tami asked.

Eric and Tim shared a knowing look and a laugh. "What is so funny?" Tami demanded, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Nothing, honey. Nothing at all," Eric explained.

Julie looked down at Tim. "How did it go?" she asked quietly while her parents began to discuss dinner.

"Really good, Jules," Tim said, nodding and grinning. His hand gently squeezed her hip.

"I can see," she said with a laugh. "What happened to game film?"

"I think your dad realized that was only my reason for getting over here, so we decided to watch the game," he explained, gesturing the to TV which was playing the last few plays of the Texas-Oklahoma game.

"Jules, honey, come help me get things ready for dinner," said Tami as she stood from the sofa.

"Okay," Julie said, standing and following her mother. It wasn't like she cared about the football game, though she was enjoying Tim's arm around her waist.

"Tim, you wanna help with the salad?" Tami asked casually.

"No!" Tim and Julie said at the same time. Both Eric and Tami's eyes widened in surprise at their adamant protests, their gazes training on the pair as they waited for an explanation.

"I mean, uh, Tim's kind of a mess in the kitchen, mom. Just, uh, let him finish watching the game with dad," Julie pleaded.

"Yeah, Mrs. Coach, you don't want food poisoning or somethin'," Tim said, nodding in time with Julie.

"Alright," Tami said, sounding unconvinced. "Whatever ya'll say."

--

Dinner was a surprisingly comfortable event for everyone. Julie and Tim sat across from each other, a fact which Julie was grateful for so that she wouldn't have to worry about wandering hands or feet with her parents around. The conversation flowed comfortably between stories that Tim and Julie had from New York City and football talk. By the time Tami brought out dessert, it seemed that everyone had grown used to being around each other. In essence, Tim easily fit into the Taylor family dynamics.

"Would it, uh, be okay if I stole Julie away from ya'll for the evening?" Tim asked in between bites of the Key Lime Pie Tami had served.

"Sure, honey," Tami nodded. "What do you have planned?"

"It's kind of a surprise," he said slowly.

Tami and Eric nodded. "Just don't her back too late, son. She may be grown, but when she's home I still sit up worried about her if she's gone too long," Eric said.

"Don't worry, I won't Coach," Tim said. He was going to make it his personal mission to see that Eric Taylor had no reason to question his actions or motives.

Tami stood and began collecting dessert plates. "I'll help you, Mom," Julie said before standing.

"I've got it, honey. Why don't ya'll go ahead and get going?" Tami smiled, waving her off.

"Okay," Julie said with surprised. Instead of returning to her seat, she headed to the foyer to get her jacket.

"Dinner was great, Mrs. Coach," Tim said, following Julie's suit and standing.

"Thanks hon," she said with a grin before retreating to the kitchen.

Once they were in Tim's truck, memories flooding Julie of the only other time she had been in it the day of the tornado, she turned to him. "Where are we going?"

Tim chuckled at her question. Julie, it seemed, always needed to know the plan. "Just enjoy the ride," he said, pulling her across the seat to nestle in his side, "you'll see where we're going soon enough."

--

_A/N: So, there it is...Coach and Tami finally know about them. What did ya'll think? Let me know!! As always, I love my sweet little reviewers :)_


	14. Chapter 14

Driving down the road cuddled into Tim's side, Julie allowed the worry and doubt about their relationship that she had bottled up before now to float away. Finally, she felt at peace. She knew, without a second thought, that she was exactly where she was supposed to be with exactly the person she was supposed to be with.

As the truck rumbled down the stretch of road Tim had turned onto, a comfortable silence settled between them, the only sound interrupting the roar of the engine was the quiet country music playing through the radio.

"You know what your dad told earlier?" Tim asked, breaking the soft silence.

Julie shook her head into his shoulder. "What did he tell you?" she mumbled into it.

"That he's proud to have me as his daughter's boyfriend," he said. Julie could hear the pride in his voice.

"Wow," Julie said, "you know that's, like, a huge deal for him right?"

Tim nodded. "I know, that's why I couldn't really believe it," he admitted.

"You know what else?" Julie asked, allowing her hand to travel from her lap to his thigh, which she started to rub gently.

Tim's silence urged her on. "I'm pretty proud to call you my boyfriend, too," she whispered.

He turned to her and grinned, placing a quick peck on her lips before shifting his attention back on the road.

--

"Jules, we're here," Tim said about ten minutes later, gently shaking Julie to wake her. Somewhere between her house and their destination she had dozed off.

Julie sat up and rubbed her eyes. Even though it had been a short little catnap, she had slept soundly. Probably, she assumed, the relaxed feel of the ride had allowed her to completely fall asleep.

Looking around, all she could see was that they had come down a long dirt road and were surrounded by empty land. "I have no clue where we are," she admitted.

Tim grinned. "Come on, I'll show you," he said, quickly jumping out of the truck and circling around the front to get the door for her. Helping her down, he sat her on her feet before grabbing her hand and dragging her along behind him.

"Wait here," he said before running back to the truck. Perplexed, Julie stood where he had left her.

Seconds later, he returned with a blanket in his hands. "Forgot this," he muttered as he approached her.

Reaching again for her hand, Tim pulled her farther away from the truck. Coming to a stop in the middle of the empty land, he released her hand and spread out the blanket before sitting down in the middle of it. Julie followed suit, sitting next to him with her legs sprawled in front of her.

She turned to him, her eyes begging for an explanation.

"This morning, while I was driving around and trying to think of the best way to break the news about us to your dad, I drove by this land and it made my mind start wandering about things. I got to thinking about my life and how I wanted it to be years from now, what I wanted to look back on and say I was proud of," Tim began to explain, moving from a sitting position onto his back, his gaze shifting to the clearly visible stars above them.

"You know what I realized?" he asked.

Julie lay down beside him, propping herself up on an elbow so that she could see him. She shook her head no.

"I realized that last night, when I was on the sidelines with the team and helping Coach call the plays, that I was happier in that moment that I have been in the past four months with the team in New York. I was more proud of calling that one play that won the game than I am of cashing in my paycheck from the Giants," he paused to gauge her reaction.

Julie nodded, urging him to continue. "Jules, I'm not going to be playing ball for years and years. I don't wanna be that forty year old getting knee replacement surgery. This," he gestured to the land around him, his arms floating above him, "is where I want to be one day. In Texas, on a big stretch of land, raising a family."

"Back before Six had his accident, we had this big master plan that he would play pro ball for a few years, come back to Dillon, and then we would open up a huntin' ranch together. I guess, in a way, I still want some of that. The land part anyway, I'm kind of over the ranch idea." When he was finished, he propped himself up on an elbow, turning his body to face Julie's and mirror her position.

"Tim," she asked, "why are you tellin' me all this?"

"Because, I'm really starting to develop just a bit of a soft spot for you and you're the only person I wanted to share this crazy dream with," he admitted. His mouth slowly swept into a smirk.

Julie smiled wide, scooting closer to Tim. "I don't think it's crazy," she whispered.

"You don't?" Tim asked, uneasiness in his voice.

She shook her head, smirking. "I can tell you're kind of going crazy in Manhattan."

"It's not that bad," he said. It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than he was her. "You're there," he added.

"But you're right, I don't want to be there forever," he admitted.

"You know what? Neither do I," Julie said. It was the first time she had said it out loud.

Before this trip home, she had never imagined that she would return to Dillon permanently. Austin or Dallas or even San Antonio maybe, but never back to the small town of Dillon. But this weekend, being so close to her family and seeing how much Gracie Belle had grown in just the few months since she had seen her last, a longing had settled inside of her for the place she had grown up.

Tim's face had 'I'm shocked' written all over it. "You love living in the city, Jules," he said.

"I do," she nodded, agreeing with him. "But you know what else I love? My family being in the same town as me and that it only takes ten minutes to get the grocery store. Seeing Gracie Belle grow practically before my eyes. And the stars, Tim, look at the stars. I can't remember the last time I looked at the stars," she waved her arms above her, pointing to the twinkles above them.

"When I took off to New York for school, I had every intention of staying there forever, settling down and getting a great job somewhere like _The New York Times_. But then, I came home this weekend and all of that changed. I think I had to get away before I could appreciate this place," she explained further.

Tim chuckled at the irony of it all, rolling over before reaching across the space between them to wrap his arm around Julie's waist and pull her closer. Adjusting to his movements, Julie curled into his side, tossing her leg across his while teasingly tracing her fingers from his chest the top of his pants.

"You are completely full of surprises tonight, Jules," he murmured into her hair.

"So are you," she whispered into his shoulder. Feeling bold, she inched closer to him, allowing her legs to straddle his waist as she climbed on top of him. Glancing at his face, she saw that his eyes had widened in surprise.

Julie smirked before moving closer and meeting his lips with hers. As their kisses became more frenzied and intense, a random thought floating through her mind reminded her that they were completely alone, no distractions or alarms to break them apart this time. Suddenly, a feeling of déjà vu overcame her. This, a blanket and kisses and traveling hands under the Texas stars, had happened to her before. With Matt.

Tim, sensing the hesitation in her kisses, pulled away. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Julie nodded, this time attaching her lips to his neck. She stopped suddenly. "No," she groaned. As much as she wanted to be okay, she wasn't. She didn't want to simply replay her time with Matt with Tim. He meant more to her than that.

"It's just, I've done this before," she explained.

"Yeah, me too," he joked, his fingers skimming along the soft skin of her back.

Julie deadpanned. "No, I mean, this," she gestured to Tim then their surroundings. "With Matt," she explained.

"Oh," said Tim.

"I'm sorry," Julie said, biting her lip nervously. "I just, God I feel like a teenager with all these damn interruptions, but I just want it to be special with you, different. I really don't want to replay another time," she explained.

Tim nodded. "It's okay, Jules. I understand," he assured her. "Probably I should get you home anyway, don't wanna be removed from Coach's good side on the second day they know we're dating," he said.

Julie rolled off of him. "Are you sure?"

"Jules," he sat up to brush a strand of hair behind her ear, "I told you once and I'll tell you a thousand times more. With you, it's different. I'm not in a big rush. Though, if you keep climbin' on top of me like that, I don't know how much longer I'm gonna be able to wait."

The tension she didn't realize she had been holding between her eyebrows was released when she chuckled at his comment. "Thank you," she said with a grin.

"You know that isn't why I brought you out here, right?" he asked.

"I know," she assured him with a nod.

"Come on, let's you get you home." Tim stood then extended a hand to Julie to help her from the ground. Wrapping a strong arm around her waist, they practically floated back to the truck.

* * *

_Note: The end is starting to be in sight for this story (I think so anyway)...so, I'm looking for input: do you guys want a sequel of some sort to this story when I'm done, or an entirely different story? Either review with your opinion, or if you don't feel comfortable reviewing, send me a PM. Thanks! _

_Also, to the anonymous reviewer who has an issue with the way I spell 'ya'll,'...um, **ouch!** Sorry it is such a pet peeve for you, but does it really affect the story that much? I mean, I guess I'll try to work on that but I'm honestly not going to let it be my main focus. Regardless, I'm glad you're enjoying the story and hope that you continue to do so._

Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!


	15. Chapter 15

Somehow, Julie and Tim ended up on the same flight out of Midland back to New York. After saying goodbye to their families in Dillon, Tyra dropped them at the airport on her way back to Austin.

After checking in for their flight and sending off their luggage, they trudged through security then walked hand in hand through the airport to their gate. With forty-five minutes until their flight started to board, Julie decided to head off in search of a magazine or book to occupy her time, seeing as how Tim had already slumped over in a chair and fallen asleep.

Locating the nearest kiosk, Julie browsed through the selection in front of her. _TIME, Newsweek, InStyle, Sports Illustrated_, and…_Cosmopolitan._ Confused by the image on the cover, she picked up a copy and began to examine it. Blake Lively, she recalled, was supposed to be the September cover girl, not Taylor Swift. Shifting the magazine in her hands so that she could read the spine, here eyes widened with what was written before her: October Edition.

Grabbing the Sports Illustrated that was nestled on the rack next to her greatest fear, she rushed over to the counter to pay. Sighing loudly at the fact that it took the woman working the register longer to ring her up than it took Gracie Belle to tie her shoes, she practically ran back to the gate after throwing a twenty at the woman.

"Tim, you have to wake up," she said loudly, shaking him not so gently. Julie knew what a sound sleeper he was and this, she decided, was an emergency.

"What the," Tim asked, sitting up with a jump and taking in his surroundings.

Julie held up the magazine.

"Taylor Swift, she's hot," Tim said groggily before closing his eyes again.

"No, Tim, no you are not allowed to go back to sleep," Julie demanded, continuing to shake his shoulder to keep him from dozing off again.

Sensing the urgency in her voice, he reluctantly returned to a fully sitting position and focused all of his attention on her. "Do you know what this is?"

"Yes," he said, "a magazine."

Julie turned it so that he could see the date on the side. "Oh, it's _the_ magazine," he said, catching onto the importance of the situation. "But, it's September. I thought it wasn't coming out until October."

"They come out a few weeks early," Julie explained.

"Well, have you looked at it?" asked Tim.

Julie shook her head back and forth. "I'm too nervous," she said, biting her lip.

"Hand it over," Tim said, extending his hand. Julie placed the magazine in his palm.

"Wait," he paused, "how do you not know which picture is in there? You do work there, you know."

Julie rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know, but my editor has the final say so there is no telling which one she chose," she explained.

Tim was already turning to the table of contents as she explained. "Page 112," she heard him mutter to himself before he began flipping the pages.

He began to slowly nod up and down as he examined the pages in front of him, his lips pursed in concentration. "Well?" Julie asked with wide eyes.

"Take a look for yourself," he said, handing her back the magazine.

A sigh of relief flew from her mouth when she took in the images before her. On the left side was a full page of Tim, sitting on the bleachers with a football in his hands; an empty stadium had been inserted into the background. The right side contained the interview questions that she had asked, plus a tiny picture of them post-kiss in the top right hand corner. The caption below it read, 'Sorry ladies, this Texan is taken.'

"Thank God," Julie said before collapsing into the seat next to Tim.

He casually tossed his arm around the back of her attached chair, pulling her head to his shoulder before using it as a pillow for himself.

"You relieved? Tim asked, his fingers threading down through her hair.

She nodded into his neck. "Very," she mumbled.

Tim grinned at this. Not that he was complaining about any of the times he had had his hands on Julie, but he did regret that afternoon. He had let himself get carried away in a very public place when they were both supposed to be acting professional. So, the fact that her editor had taken the high road and used the least-incriminating photographs made him happy.

An announcement over the intercom that their flight was now boarding broke the relaxation of the moment.

"Ready to go home?" asked Tim as he stood.

Julie followed his actions. "Why do I feel more like I'm leaving home than going home?"

"Because," Tim said, "you are."

--

On Monday morning, the magazine arrived in mailboxes around the country and Julie braced herself for the onslaught that was sure to follow. Sure enough, within an hour of settling behind her desk at the office Julie had already fielded calls from her mother, Tyra, Lois, and various college friends that couldn't believe she was dating an athlete…and such a hot one at that.

By three o'clock, she had only stood to stretch her legs and go to the ladies room once. So, when activity in the office began to suddenly rise and hushed conversations began all around, she dragged her eyes away from the constantly accumulating e-mails in front of her to see what the commotion was. Surprise flowed through her as she saw the cause for the commotion: Tim.

He was walking through the office like he owned the place, his gaze trained on her desk as he navigated the maze of desks to get to hers, a brown bag, most likely containing lunch, cradled in his hands.

Julie grinned when fell into the chair opposite her desk and placed the bag in front of her. "Figured you haven't had time to get away for lunch," he explained casually.

"How did you know?" she asked with a wink, almost certain that he had dealt with just as many calls that morning as she had. Lucky for him, he could escape them during practice.

He smirked. "Lucky guess."

Unfolding the bag, Julie pulled out a burger wrapped in a foil and a large cup of French fries. She raised her eyebrows. "Turkey burger," he confirmed.

Julie grinned. He knew her well. Unwrapping the foil, she could feel her taste buds begging for the flavor. "Mmmm," she moaned as she chewed the first bite.

"Good?" Tim asked.

"Delicious," Julie nodded furiously, her mouth full of food as she spoke.

Leaning back in his chair, Tim rested his arms behind his head and watched her eat in silence. He couldn't believe that even while she was stuffing her face that he found her unbelievably sexy.

"Do you have plans tonight?" he asked casually a few minutes later.

Julie shook her head back and forth. "I'm all yours," she said. "What do you have in mind?"

Tim leaned forward, resting his forearms on her desk. "I'm thinking take out, maybe a movie, and turning off our cell phones."

"Your place or mine?" Julie asked immediately after he gave her his ideas, almost interrupting him.

Tim grinned widely. "Mine."

--

"Cell phone, please," Tim said, holding out his palm to Julie to deposit her phone in as he opened the door for her at his brownstone that evening.

Julie chuckled before digging in her purse for the device and dropping it into his hand. Grinning, he switched the power to off and placed it on the table in the foyer. "I didn't realize you were so serious about the cell phone thing," Julie joked as he pulled her into his arms.

"Oh, I was very, very serious," he drawled into her hair.

"I see that," she mumbled, her ability to form coherent sentences falling away based solely on the feeling of his warm breath on her skin.

Tim's light laughter vibrated from his body into hers. "You hungry?" he asked, pulling his head back to meet her gaze.

"I had a late lunch," she reminded him with a wink.

"Oh, that's right," he recalled sarcastically. "Movie?"

Julie shook her head, biting her lip. "I have a better idea," she whispered seductively, inching her body closer to his than it already was. Within seconds they were hip to hip, her hands flat on his chest.

Tim lifted his eyebrows in surprise, curious as to what her next move would be. He didn't have to wait long for an answer as her left hand traveled to grasp his right. Gently tugging on his arm and smirking, she pulled him through the foyer and to the bottom of the staircase.

Julie stepped onto the bottom stair and turned to face Tim, the slight addition of height making them almost level. He reacted instinctively to her arms wrapping around his neck, casually leaning in and brushing his lips across hers. Eagerly responding, Julie wasted no time in opening her mouth to allow him in as her hands delved into his hair, their kisses full of passion and pure desire.

The next thing Julie knew, Tim was settling her gently onto the top of his bed, her legs unwrapping from where they had securely been folded around his waist. Vague memories of him lifting her off the ground and carrying her up the stairs and down the hall to the master bedroom were floating in her mind, but the only clear thoughts she could focus on were how good his hands felt as they traveled up her thighs, kneading gently, on their way to removing the cotton jersey dress she was wearing. His shirt, she remembered, was somewhere in the middle of the hallway.

Within seconds, her dress had been tossed to an unknown location across the room and Tim's lips were returning to hers from the detour they had taken around her collarbone. Strong hands with hard working, calloused fingers caressed her sides and abdomen as their lips continued to tease at each other's—biting, nipping, and then soothing.

"Tim," Julie moaned as his hands stopped on her breasts, his fingers massaging them through the lace of the bra she was wearing.

Impatient, Tim reached around to unclasp her bra, finally allowing himself to see a part of her body he had dreamed of claiming as his own for, well, years. Simultaneously, Julie's hands traveled down to the button of his worn jeans and had it undone in a matter of seconds, followed immediately by the zipper. Tugging at his belt loops, the piece of clothing was removed quickly and joined her dress somewhere across the room.

As if suddenly realizing that they had both been reduced to nothing but their undergarments, Julie and Tim's eyes met in a lusty gaze, both taking a moment to catch their breath.

Because both knew that this time, there were going to be no interruptions—no alarms, no dinner guests, and no memories of ex boyfriends. Tonight, they would be able to exist in a world that consisted only of each other.

--

_Thoughts? Only one more chapter to go! _


	16. Chapter 16

_July, One Year Later (2014)_

Using the key to Tim's brownstone that he had gotten made for her shortly after they arrived back in the city from their trip to Dillon (finally, she had convinced him to start locking his door), Julie unlocked the door and bounced inside. As per Tim's strict instructions from their phone conversation earlier, she was to wait for him in the living room.

"Tim? I'm here," she called through the home once she had settled on the sofa, her voice echoing through the rooms.

"Close your eyes," Tim demanded as he hid behind the doorway that separated the kitchen and the room Julie was in.

Julie obeyed, curious as to what he was planning. "Closed," she announced seconds later.

Tim walked into the room, coming to a stop in front of where Julie was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, her hands covering her eyes like a little girl eagerly waiting for her surprise.

"Okay, open," he said.

Julie's hands fell away from her face before her eyelids fluttered open. Standing before her, causing her mouth to fall agape, Tim stood dressed in a Dallas Cowboys jersey, '33' stretched across the chest.

"Are you, you're kidding, oh my God," Julie rambled, unable to form a sentence that was anywhere near being coherent.

"Now, it's not official yet because an announcement hasn't been made by the team," Tim said, "but, as of right now, I'm a signing a contract to be traded to the Cowboys in the morning."

Julie immediately jumped up from the sofa and began squealing. "The Cowboys? Tim, that's so amazing. It's like, the dream of every little boy from Texas that ever played football," she exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck with joy.

Julie couldn't really say that she was completely shocked by the news, chatter had been surrounding Tim for the past few weeks with talk that a trade might be in the works, but she had forced herself to ignore any and all speculation until it was official. But now that the possibility of moving back to Texas was turning more into a reality, she had a hard time believing it was for real.

Tim wrapped his arms around her waist and twirled her around the living room, imitating his actions of nearly a year ago in the locker room at the Giant's practice facility. When he started to feel a little dizzy, from the excitement of the moment or the spinning he wasn't sure, he placed Julie back on her feet.

"Oh, and I got something for you to wear at the games," he said. "You know, so everyone will know that you're my girl."

"Okay," Julie said slowly, her eyes narrowing as she tried to figure out what it could be. A jersey, maybe? Or a hat with his number on it? She didn't see any other boxes lying around.

Reaching into his pocket, Tim pulled out a small box and flipped it to Julie who caught it in her left hand. Adding to her already narrowed eyes, her eyebrows furrowed in questioning.

"Open it," Tim urged, the look on his face a combination of hope and fear.

Julie grinned before ripping off the royal blue wrapping paper. Once she had discarded it, she shifted her gaze from what was in her hands to the man who had given it to her who was now kneeling before her on one knee.

He nodded, giving her the go-ahead to flip open the small box. Biting her lip nervously, she did, revealing a simple cushion cut diamond set on a platinum band filled with smaller diamonds. It was perfect, nothing too extravagant but still worthwhile. Though she couldn't be sure, she was fairly confident that if she had been given a chance to choose her own ring, this would be the one she chose.

Her eyes widened, tears instantly forming in them.

"Those better be good tears, Jules," Tim smirked. Julie nodded furiously to inform that they were, her lips suddenly unable to form words.

Lifting his hands to meet hers, he smoothly removed the box from her hands, tossing it to the side after removing the ring.

"Jules," he began, already started to choke on his words, "after the night we ran into each other at the charity gala, I knew my life had changed; it was almost like suddenly, away from Dillon and everyone we have known for our entire lives, we were able to come together and it didn't matter what everyone thought. That night, dancing with you, everything felt perfect."

"I guess what I'm saying is, I couldn't imagine being in Dallas, or anywhere really, without knowing you were by my side…forever," Tim paused to gauge her response. Judging by the smile on her face and the tears streaming down her cheeks, he figured he was doing alright.

"Marry me?" he asked boldly.

"Yes, yes, of course I'll marry you," Julie said enthusiastically, her head bobbing up and down. Finally, her voice returned.

Tim smiled wide, reaching for her left hand to slide the ring onto the appointed finger. Once it was in place, he stood and cupped her face in his hands before drawing her in for a series of sweet, gentle kisses.

"You know you have to move to Dallas now, right?" Tim asked once their kissing slowed, their foreheads still touching.

Julie nodded. "I know that," she confirmed. "I'm ready to get back to Texas, anyway."

"I was just makin' sure you weren't expecting a long distance engagement," he joked.

"I wasn't," she said, still grinning madly. "Should we call my parents and share the good news?"

Tim shook his head. "No need," he answered simply.

Julie stared at him, clearly confused.

"They're here. In the city, waiting for us at the restaurant we had our first date," Tim explained.

"You're kidding?" Julie said happily, more tears of joy springing to her eyes.

"Nope," he said. "I knew you would want them here," he added softly as an explanation.

"Well then let's go see them," Julie said happily before grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the door, only stopping on the way to quickly readjust her make-up and pick up her purse.

Once they were in a taxi on their way to the restaurant, she turned to him. "What if I would have said no?" she asked, laughter dancing in her eyes.

"I knew you wouldn't," Tim answered honestly.

"So humble," Julie said sarcastically, playfully swatting him across the stomach.

He grinned. "You love it," he said.

"I do," she agreed, leaning across the seat for a quick kiss.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Tim slid out of the taxi first before extending his hand to Julie to help her out. She practically skipped to the entrance while Tim walked quickly to keep up with her.

Once they had navigated the hallway that led to the restaurant's dining room, they paused before entering. "Am I allowed to squeal and scream?" Julie asked, only half joking.

"Babe, you're allowed to do whatever you want," Tim answered, smirking.

As predicted, Julie squealed and screamed as she flung open the door and made a beeline for her parents' table, first embracing Tami while Tim and Eric shared a congratulatory handshake and man-hug. Switching, Eric wrapped his baby girl in his arms while Tami embraced Tim. Gracie Belle, who had dragged herself away from the picture she was coloring on the tablecloth, was next.

Once the greetings had been exchanged and everyone returned to their seats, Eric was the first to lift his glass and propose a toast. "To my beautiful daughter and her future husband," he said, his voice beginning to break with emotion, "I never would have imagined this day, but I couldn't be happier."

Glasses were clinked together and sips of wine were taken. Grinning, Julie's gaze traveled around the table to her loved ones, Tami and Eric sharing a sweet grin and then a short kiss, Tim helping Gracie draw a sketch of the Panther's field on a napkin, and realized that she too never would have imaged the day where she was sitting at a table with her parents, baby sister, and Tim Riggins as her fiancé, but there was nothing in the world she could think of to top it.

The End

_A/N: So, there it is :) I hope that you all had fun reading it, as I had a lot of fun writing it! I just can't bring myself to letting this Julie and Tim go, so right now I'm planning a sequel set a few years in the future. Final thoughts? Things you liked/didn't like? Things you want to see in the sequel?_

_Thanks again for all of the sweet reviews and comments as the story was progressing. Seeing as how this was my first story, every bit of encouragement was well appreciated! You ladies are awesome :)_


End file.
